General HIV COH project information

Project name

Belgian HIV-AIDS Cohort Study

Project abbreviation

HIV COH

Project code

HDBP0002

Primary organization that oversees implementation of project

• Sciensano

Partner organization participating in project

• Not available

Organization that commissioned this project

• National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (RIZIV-INAMI)

Organization providing monetary or material support

• National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (RIZIV-INAMI)

Brief project description

The Belgian HIV Cohort was initiated in 2006 to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the HIV epidemic in Belgium (including information on the outcomes of the patients in addition to the register of new HIV/AIDS cases). It consists of a prospective multicenter data collection all nine AIDS Reference Centres (ARC) in Belgium. The aim of this cohort is to acquire and share information on the characteristics of the HIV population under medical follow-up and the evolution of these characteristics. The implementation of such a cohort will hopefully contribute to improve the management of the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Belgium. More specifically, the objectives of the cohort are to estimate the number of HIV patients in follow-up and their demographic profile, to monitor outcomes in terms of death and lost to follow-up and to assess immunological (CD4) and virological (VL) changes over time, as well as antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake. An enlargement of the data collection for the cohort is foreseen, which will permit to have more information on morbidity, more detailed information on treatment and evolution. Data collected for the cohort are both medical data (from medical files) and laboratory data (from LIMS).

Regulatory framework of this project

Consult the regulatory framework information published on the fair.healthdata.be pages.