Almaty signed Paris Declaration on HIV

Almaty signed Paris Declaration on HIV

On July 20, 2017 Akimat of Almaty signed Paris Declaration of  of commitment to Ending AIDS in the city.
Signing is carried out as part of the project of Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine) «Fast-track HIV/TB response for key populations in EECA cities» with the support of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Kazakhstan and AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW) in Kazakhstan
The project is implemented for the funds of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria during 2017-2019 in five countries.

Signing the Paris Declaration is an important and responsible task for all mayors of the world’s cities in order to support activities to improve the situation in their cities in identifying and treatment of HIV-infection, as well as reduce death cases related to HIV-infection and tuberculosis to 2020, and stop the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Without any doubts, signing the Declaration will attract the attention of city residents to HIV-infection related issues, which will allow them to make testing on time and begin treatment. Almaty will become a direct participant of international healthcare activities and will have access to the most advanced achievements and developments in HIV and AIDS. The best world practices on the improvement of HIV/TB programs until 2023 will be included in Almaty City Plan, which will allow ceasing the growth of the HIV and AIDS epidemic and improving the health of the population.

The HIV epidemic in Almaty is kept in a concentrated stage. 5172 cases of HIV have been registered since the beginning of the epidemic. 448 new cases of HIV were identified based on the results of 2016. The parenteral route of transmission of HIV infection (through the blood) among new HIV infections in 2016 was 30%, the sexual way of transmission – 65%. Preventive programs are actively working in the city to fight the epidemic. Thanks to these programs, testing for HIV infection is the highest in the country.

Andriy Klepikov from Alliance for Public Health said: «Almaty again sets the tone to the response to HIV-infection in Central Asia region. This is the first city in the region to sign the declaration. This is not surprising, as the city is already taking real steps in response to the epidemic – harm reduction programs among risk groups are financed from the city budget».

The ceremony gathered representatives of Republican Center on Prevention and Control of AIDS, Almaty health department, Almaty AIDS Center, UN agencies, other international and public organizations, ambassadors, people living with HIV.

Paris Declaration was signed in 2014. Mayors pledges to include their cities in the fast-track programmes to end the AIDS epidemic through the implementations of a number of obligations.   These commitments include the achievement of AIDS targets of 90-90-90, so that 90% of people living with HIV will be aware of their HIV status; 90% of people who are aware of their positive HIV status will receive antiretroviral treatment; and 90% of people receiving treatment will have a suppressed viral load that will allow them to stay healthy and reduce the risk of HIV transmission.