Minneapolis Joins Fast-Track Cities to End the AIDS Epidemic by 2030 — March 8, 2018

On Friday, March 9 at 9:30 am, the Minneapolis City Council will pass and Mayor Jacob Frey will sign a resolution to officially declare Minneapolis the newest member of the Fast-Track Cities initiative. Fast-Track cities is a global initiative intended to accelerate and expand the response to HIV/AIDS. Among its main goals are to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

This resolution will make Minneapolis the first city in the state to join on to the Fast-Track Cities initiative. Along with initiative leaders Minnesota AIDS Project, we’d like to express our excitement about the steps that the City Council and Mayor Frey are taking to address HIV.

The Fast-Track Cities initiative was launched on World AIDS Day 2014 in Paris. The goals of the Fast-Track Cities initiative are to achieve 90 percent of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status; 90 percent of people living with HIV who know their HIV-positive status on antiretroviral therapy; 90 percent of people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy achieving viral suppression; and zero HIV stigma and discrimination.

Our Executive Director Chuck Peterson expressed his approval of this development when he stated, “This commitment by Mayor Frey and the Minneapolis City Council is vital to the wellbeing of people living with HIV, and will guide our communities efforts to increase capacity for one of the most pressing issues for people living with HIV — housing. For people living with HIV, not having stable housing can be the difference between life and death, and is strongly linked to inadequate HIV health care, high viral loads and overall poor health.”

Joining the Fast-Track Cities initiative gives cities access to technical assistance to local health departments; consensus-building and coordination among key local stakeholders; and capacity-building support for clinical and service providers, community-based organizations, and affected communities.

More than 90 priority cities around the world have since signed the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities Ending AIDS. Minneapolis would be the first city in Minnesota and the second city in the Midwest following Chicago.

The Twin Cities comprise the core of new HIV infections in the state. Thirty-two percent of new HIV infections in 2016 occurred in Minneapolis, and 82 percent of new diagnoses occurred in the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.