Collaboration to Tackle HIV in Fast-Track Cities

ViiV Healthcare (a specialist HIV joint venture between GSK, Pfizer and now Shionogi) and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) have announced a global collaboration to support 16 cities around the world that are participating in Fast-Track Cities, a global partnership between IAPAC, the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), and the City of Paris.

The collaboration will focus on 16 cities where HIV is highly prevalent: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brussels, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Denver, Durban, Geneva, Kingston, Miami, Nairobi, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and San Francisco. It aims to

• Attain Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 90-90-90 targets^[1]

• Increase utilization of combination prevention: a mix of effective and proven HIV prevention interventions, including condom provision, and the immediate initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)

• Reduce to zero the negative impact of discrimination and stigma, including in healthcare settings

• Monitor and report progress through a standardized approach to data generation, analysis, and reporting that embraces local and global accountability and the use of "open data".

The Fast-Track Cities initiative aims to strengthen and leverage existing HIV programs and resources to accelerate locally coordinated, city-wide responses to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. To date, 65 cities have joined the initiative.