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Fast-track Cities Initiative
In January 2018, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, signed the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities Ending the AIDS Epidemic, along with London Councils, Public Health England and NHS England. The ambition is to cut rates of new HIV infection in the capital and eliminate discrimination and stigma associated with the condition.
Why is this initiative important?
London carries a high proportion of the national HIV epidemic, with over 40% of the total of new diagnoses in England, being made in London.
What are the challenges?
For many Londoners HIV remains a stigmatising condition that negatively impacts on their quality of life with late and undiagnosed infection rates in London remaining unacceptably high.
What is involved in the initiative?
The Mayor of London, people living with HIV, HIV charities and community organisations, and representatives from NHS England, UK Health Security Agency and London Councils, have committed to work with a wide variety of partners on four key areas.
OUR IMPACT
London has already made great strides towards achieving the United Nations’ (UN) targets for the Fast-Track Cities initiative. The data shows that in 2023 London achieved 97%, 98% and 98%, meeting and exceeding the United Nations’ targets. So 97% of people living with HIV are diagnosed, 98% of those on treatment and 98% on treatment with the virus supressed. People on effective HIV treatment are undetectable, so the virus is untransmissible and they cannot pass HIV on.
We have now reached:
-
%
of people living with HIV infection are diagnosed
-
%
of people diagnosed receiving treatment
-
%
of people receiving treatment being virally suppressed