Nashville will recognize June 5 as HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TN Tribune)–On Friday, June 3, Mayor John Cooper and the Metro Public Health Department held a special signing ceremony of the Paris Declaration 4.0 that designates Nashville as a ‘Fast-Track City’ and joins dozens of cities across the world in an international movement to combat the HIV/AIDS virus.

“By joining the Fast-Track Cities Initiative, Nashville can do its part on the global stage to help curb rates of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths,” said Mayor Cooper. “We continue to see disproportionate rates of new cases along racial and gender lines, with rises in new cases among women, youth and people of color. HIV is no longer a death sentence because of remarkable advancements in medicine and technology, and I remain enormously hopeful that there is more progress to be made fighting these diseases.”

The Paris Declaration 4.0 is part of a joint movement by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the City of Paris.

By joining the Fast-Track Cities Initiative, Nashville will recommit to achieving the goals of The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS: 95% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 95% of those people being linked to treatment, and 95% attainment of undetectable viral load by 2030.

The ceremony included additional remarks from service, public health and clinical stakeholders before final remarks from Mayor Cooper.

Mayor Cooper joined President/CEO, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) Dr. José Zuniga, and Council Member At-Large Sharon Hurt for the signing ceremony.

For more on Fast-Track Cities and the Paris Declarations 4.0, please feel free to see HERE,

The Fast-Track Cities initiative is comprised of a global network of cities and municipalities around the world that is supported by four core partners – The International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the City of Paris.

Launched in December 2014, the network has grown to more than 380 cities and municipalities worldwide that are committed to accelerating their urban HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis (HBV and HCV) responses to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3 of ending the HIV and TB epidemics, as well as the WHO’s HBV and HCV elimination goals, by 2030.