Credit: IAPAC
News Editor
This comes alongside news that Scotland exceeded international HIV targets
Glasgow City Council has agreed to sign up Glasgow to the Fast Track Cities initiative. This is a global partnership which aims to cut the rates of new HIV infection in the city and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease. By signing up to the initiative the city agrees to help end the threat of AIDS by 2030. The initiative was launched on World AIDS Day 2014, in Paris.
Through this initiative, the council will continue to work to exceed the UN’s 90:90:90 HIV targets. This refers to ensuring that 90 per cent of people living with HIV know whether they are infected, 90 per cent of those diagnosed are on treatment and 90 per cent of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads, meaning that the presence of HIV in their body has dropped to undetectable levels.
Councillor Mhairi Hunter, City Convener for Health and Social Care and chair of the Fast Track Cities leadership group, said: “These are ambitious targets Glasgow is signing up to but we share the commitment of the UN and partner cities in this international network to improve the health, quality of life and well-being of people living with HIV.
“We are proud to become the first Scottish authority to become a Fast Track City, joining the likes of London, Amsterdam, New York, Melbourne, and Manchester. This opens up to us a global network within which we can share expertise, experience, and resources to end HIV infections, stop stigma and discrimination and play our part in halting preventable deaths.”
It was also recently announced that Scotland has exceeded the UN 90:90:90 HIV targets. Scotland’s figure shows that 91 per cent of those with HIV know they are infected, 98 per cent are on treatment and 97 per cent of those on treatment have suppressed viral loads.
