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(left) Marlene McNeese is the Assistant Director, Disease Prevention and Control Division for the City of Houston, Houston Health Department (middle) Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Stephen L. Williams, Director Houston Health Department.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo have signed on to the Fast-Track Cities Paris Declaration to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030
Marlene McNeese is the Assistant Director, Disease Prevention and Control Division for the City of Houston Health Department.
More than 1,200 new HIV infections occur every year in Houston/Harris County, where more than 28,000 people live with the disease. Houston/Harris County is a national hotspot for new HIV diagnoses, along with Washington D.C. and San Juan Puerto Rico.
The signing of the The Fast-Track Cities Paris Declaration marked the conclusion of the Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit, which brings together clinicians and health professionals to highlight the role biomedical prevention tools in ending the epidemic.
“Ending HIV is not only a lifesaving endeavor, it is also an economically sound approach that saves millions of dollars in health care costs,” said Mayor Turner. “I’m proud to add Houston as a Fast Track City, complementing the quality work of the Houston Health Department in ending the HIV epidemic.”
“Ending HIV is not only a lifesaving endeavor, it is also an economically sound approach that saves millions of dollars in health care costs,” said Houston Mayor, Sylvester Turner.
The Fast-Track Cities Paris Declaration is a commitment by municipalities to achieve the 90-90-90 HIV treatment targets by 2020. These targets will rapidly reduce new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths and put cities, now to include Houston and Harris County, on the “fast track” to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
The Declaration calls on cities to strengthen their local HIV/AIDS responses and meet a set of targets to significantly reduce new HIV infections and end-AIDS related deaths. These targets are to ensure that 90 percent of people living with HIV (PLHIV) will know their status, that 90 percent of all PLHIV will receive sustained anti-retroviral treatment and that 90 percent of all PLHIV on anti-retroviral treatment will have durable viral suppression.
Beau J. Mitts, MPH of The Houston Health Department Bureau of HIV/STD & Viral Hepatitus Prevention reminds residents that free and confidential HIV and other STD testing are offered at its health centers and mobile clinic. People can call 832-393-5010 or the City of Houston 311 Help & Info Line to find the nearest health center. The mobile clinic schedule and health center locations are also available at HoustonHealth.org.
Launched on World AIDS Day 2014 in Paris, the Fast-Track Cities initiative is a global partnership between more than 250 high HIV burden cities, 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.
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