On 21 May 2026, a high-level event, “Journeys of Resilience: Stories shaping the HIV response in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” took place in Geneva as part of the World Health Assembly. The event was organized by Gilead Sciences and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The event marked the launch of the RADIAN Impact Report, which summarizes five years of work by the RADIAN partnership in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The gathering brought together global health representatives, donors, policymakers, civil society leaders, partner organizations, and changemakers whose work is helping to transform approaches to HIV prevention, treatment, and support for people affected by HIV.RADIAN, a partnership between Gilead Sciences and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, has been supporting local solutions since 2019 — helping to overcome barriers to HIV services, strengthen the role of communities, and drive sustainable change in health systems. According to the presented Impact Report, over the first five years of RADIAN support, nearly 350,000 people in the region accessed HIV-related services, more than 188,000 people received HIV testing, and over 37,000 people living with HIV initiated or re-initiated antiretroviral therapy.Among the invited RADIAN Changemakers was Yulia Golub, HelpNow Service Coordinator at HelpNowHUB Foundation Poland. In her remarks, she presented the experience of HelpNowHUB Foundation and its partners — Step by Step Foundation and Res Humanae Foundation — in supporting Ukrainians forcibly displaced by the war, including people living with HIV and representatives of key communities.Special attention was given to the fact that, for people crossing borders in the context of war, continuity of treatment and access to support does not happen automatically. It depends on trust, safe navigation, clear information, peer support, and partnerships that can respond quickly to people’s real needs.“It is a great honor for me to be part of this event and to speak on behalf of HelpNowHUB Foundation and our partners. Our work began as an emergency response to the war, but today it is no longer only about crisis support. It is about a sustainable, community-led pathway back to treatment, safety, trust, and hope. RADIAN helped make this work not only possible in a moment of emergency, but also more sustainable over time — strengthening support for people who too often remain invisible to formal systems,” said Yulia.In her speech, Yulia emphasized that HelpNowHUB Foundation was founded by Ukrainian women in migration from key communities after the start of the full-scale war. The organization’s work grew out of the HelpNow service, created by the Alliance for Public Health as an emergency response in the first months of the war, when thousands of Ukrainians had to rebuild access to safety, information, and HIV services outside their country.Since the start of the project, with RADIAN support, HelpNowHUB and its partners have responded to 2,807 requestsfrom more than 850 people, strengthened peer navigation, and built safer referral pathways from Ukraine to Poland and across the world — helping ensure that people do not lose access to treatment at the moment of greatest vulnerability.The launch of the RADIAN Impact Report was not only an opportunity to recognize the progress achieved, but also an important reminder: progress in the region remains fragile, and a sustainable HIV response requires continued investment in local leadership, peer support, cross-border approaches, and services that remain close to the people most affected by the epidemic.