Leaders from 300 cities meet for Aids summit after Standard Campaign

Left to Right: Andrea Duncan, Department of Health and Social Care, Chair EJA; Mohamed Osman; Cecilia Kihara, Frontline AIDS in Maputo; Anne Aslett, EJAF CEO, Ian Jackson, NHS England
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

A forum, which was held as part of the Evening Standard’s AIDSfree campaign that helped pave the way for a new global conference on tackling HIV/Aids, was launched in London today.

The first Fast-Track Cities conference has brought together more than 300 cities working to speed up responses to diseases including HIV and tuberculosis.

The five-day event will see medical experts and municipal leaders share their knowledge with the aim of ending urban epidemics and eliminating HIV worldwide by 2030. It is being held at the Barbican.

All the cities taking part aim to hit the UN’s 90:90:90 targets — to get at least 90 per cent of people with HIV knowing their status, 90 per cent of these on treatment, and 90 per cent of those being treated to have an “undetectable viral load”, where the levels of virus in the blood are so low it cannot be passed on.

The forum is taking place at the Barbican Centre, City of London
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

London was chosen as host city in part because of its “extraordinary” success in exceeding the targets — reaching 95-98-97 in 2017.

Last year, together with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Evening Standard and The Independent told the stories of people living with HIV in London and around the world, and shared expert commentary on medical developments through the AIDSfree campaign.

It also raised nearly £3.5 million to fund programmes supported by EJAF tackling HIV/Aids in six partner cities most affected by the epidemic including Nairobi, Atlanta, Maputo, Kiev and Delhi. Our AIDSfree Cities Global Forum brought together leaders from these cities to discuss their challenges.

The Foundation, together with Gilead Sciences, also announced at the conference the Radian initiative, which aims to provide funding and resources to cities in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Fast-Track Cities Conference chairman and president of the International Association of Providers of Aids Care, ​José Zuniga, said today: “We hope that the London conference will serve as a springboard to next year’s conference where we hope to report even more progress.

"If we continue we could see the end of urban HIV epidemics over the next several years.”

Foundation chief executive Anne Aslett said: “The support we got from Evening Standard readers for our campaign was overwhelming.”

Campaign funds are also supporting a London project that will provide mental health support to people living with HIV/Aids.

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