ABOUT US
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 LILA - Italian League for the Fight against AIDS - is a non-profit HIV/AIDS organisation founded in 1987. It is a federation of associations (local units) of both seropositive and seronegative operators, volunteers and professionals, which operates in many Italian regions through its local units. The national coordination team has implemented a structure organised in the following areas of intervention:
- information
- prevention
- health care/HIV treatment
- harm reduction strategies targeted to at risk population (drug users, sex workers, prisoners)
- solidarity and assistance
- defence of Human rights
Furthermore, LILA national coordination team supports the development of social and sanitary policies and coordinates the activities of its units at regional, provincial and municipal level.
LILA promotes and defends the right of people to health care, is committed to affirm principles of solidarity and stands against any form of violation of human, civil and citizenship rights of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV).
LILA also works in partnership with other Italian and European NGOs as well as with the major Italian institutions. LILA participates to the National AIDS Commission within the Ministry of Welfare, and to other commissions related to health issues, drug use and infective diseases.
Since its foundation, LILA has chosen neither to ask for nor to receive any grant from pharmaceutical corporation in order to maintain its independence.
Areas/Activity
LILA activities cover a wide range of thematic areas. The local units do not cover the entire range of activities; they invest their energies and resources in those areas in which they have acquired good competence and experience. Those local units with specific expertise in the different areas cooperate as a network to implement improved intervention procedures and exchange best practices.
Health Care
Our mission on this subject has not changed. We advocate the empowerment of PLHIV, claiming their right to play an active role in the scientific debate, as far as both conventional and complementary therapies are concerned. As clinical research progresses, LILA faces new challenges and broader issues, such as quality of life of people receiving HIV treatment, HIV infection and gender differences, adherence to treatment, co-infections with other viruses
Research
LILA promotes and participates in psychosocial research in Italy and over the years has conducted many research projects.
LILA has been a member of the Italian Community Advisory Board (I-CAB), whose mission is to safeguard research ethics, to defend the right to information and free choice of people recruited for clinical trials, and to promote the direct involvement of patients in the evaluation and development of the trials in Italy.
LILA representatives are members of local ethical committees as well is member in different scientific advisory boards.
LILA is member of the Italian Conference on AIDS and Retrovirus (ICAR) Community Liason Subcommittee.
Prevention
The Prevention Area encompasses several activities, all coordinated by our national coordination team in order to provide consistency to the Federation’s overall intervention principles.
Training courses on HIV prevention
LILA training courses focus not only on providing clear and scientifically accurate information, but also on highlighting and correcting any wrong preconceptions on HIV/ AIDS. The condition of being HIV positive is discussed in every aspect, from its medical and psychological implications, to the defence of human and civil rights.
Meetings and projects in schools and youth centres
These projects can be structured very differently in terms of timing and methodologies, such as for instance the peer-education approach or the use of other pedagogical tools that stimulate active participation.
Production and distribution of information material
Awareness on HIV prevention can be conveyed through several kinds of media and information materials – brochures, leaflets and posters, videos, radio, television and movie theatre ads, LILA units websites, Internet.
Since 1987 LILA developed and launched a series of campaigns aimed to raise public awareness on HIV and to promote health education on this topic. We carry on specific initiatives in cooperation with local public and private social services, addressing correct information to the different population groups.
Drug Policy
LILA drug policy adheres to the principles of harm reduction. This approach aims to protect the overall physical, psychological and relational conditions of drug users by setting specific, short-term and long-term goals - from the attainment of an acceptable inner balance to the hopefully complete recovery from addiction through a gradual modification of risky behaviours. The nature of the pathologies involved suggests – or, in some cases, makes it necessary - the adoption of public health measures such as substitution treatment (methadone), drop-in centres or drug consumption rooms, like safe injection sites also known as shooting rooms.
Self-Help Groups
These groups of PLHIV sharing the need for deeper confrontation on specific HIV related issues meet regularly in the local units. This service is meant to provide support and knowledge ranging from treatment and care to psychological/emotional mutual support.
Telephone helpline and face to face counselling
LILA can count on a network of helplines managed by volunteers and professionals of the local units. LILA approach adheres to the following ethical principles: offering non-judgemental, non directive and personally centered listening; guaranteeing the anonimity of the caller and ensure that any information taken remain confidential; promoting the caller self-esteem and respect his/her personal beliefs. Data concerning this activity are collected and available on the annual report.
Policy/Strategy
Information
LILA produces and disseminates HIV treatment information for HIV-positive people as well like other kind of political and social information to Italian community.
In prevention we specifically address young people through interventions in schools and youth centres; we have street outreach programs (in cooperation with public institutions) for drug users and sex workers in order to share with them information on harm reduction strategies; we operate in prison settings with inmates and staff.
Harm Reduction-Risk Reduction
Each local unit has some operators who work on the streets in an effort to inform and support people who are more at risk of contracting HIV and other STIs, thus preventing risky behaviours. LILA uses specifically equipped mobile units to guarantee the privacy of those who ask for advice and support. Mobile units are the most appropriate and effective tools to reach people who do not have access to information about health, public services, etc. (for instance, highly stigmatised groups such as active drug users and sex workers). Our approach follows a well-proven protocol. We hand out multilingual information materials on HIV transmission as well as prophylactic paraphernalia (syringes, condoms, lubricants...)
Solidarity - Assistance - Advocacy
HIV/AIDS help lines provide counselling, information, support and legal advice to whoever wishes to anonymously discuss his/her situation. Physicians, psychologists and legal experts are available for face to face counselling.
LILA assists and supports PLHIV who report being discriminated, by explaining the various legal steps necessary to obtain by reporting abuses and offering legal advice.
Training
We propose and provide training courses to operators of public health services, volunteers, trade-union representatives, local administrators, students and school personnel. We provide up-to-date advice on methodologies and tools to enable operators to work correctly and effectively in their own environment and territory.
Networking
LILA acts within national and international network which have as their goal the interaction of patients communities with the world of scientific research, including the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and AIDS Action Europe (AAE). Since 2005, Lila has been a member of HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum (CSF), an informal advisory group related to the European Commission (DG SANCO).
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