DEPARTMENT: Health
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Colleen M. Bridger, MPH, PhD
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
A briefing on the status of the Fast Track Cities Initiative
SUMMARY:
The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) will provide a presentation, briefing the Community Health and Equity Committee on the status of the Fast Track Cities Initiative.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In the summer of 2016, San Antonio learned that our community had the largest cluster of new HIV infections in Texas. The CDC and DSHS traced rapid and ongoing transmission of one HIV strain, and noted missed chances to diagnose HIV (especially in emergency departments), link people with HIV to care, and optimally treat HIV. This dismaying news comes at a time when the landscape of HIV is shifting rapidly under our feet. In the last five years, we have learned:
* People with HIV enjoy long, healthy lives if they begin treatment promptly. A 20-year-old with HIV that is well controlled after a year of treatment has a life expectancy of 78 years old.
* HIV is preventable with a safe daily pill that is 92% effective. The prevention pill, "PrEP," is available at low or no cost to most people in San Antonio.
* Undetectable = Untransmittable. When treatment brings HIV to such low levels that a blood test cannot detect it, then the HIV is called "undetectable." People whose HIV is undetectable for at least 6 months have almost no chance of transmitting the virus to a sex partner.
We must educate our community about these pivotal changes, and make prevention and early treatment accessible and stigma-free for everyone in San Antonio.
Launched in 2014, the Fast Track Cities Initiative is a global partnership between the City of Paris, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) and United Nations in collaboration with local, national, regional and international partners and stakeholders. Fast Track Cities aims to leverage existi...
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