AIDSfree appeal: London can be the capital of compassion in conquering Aids

London can show the world how to be compassionate towards people living with HIV and help break the stigma around the virus during a global forum being held in the capital this month, the head of the Elton John AIDS Foundation has said.

Anne Aslett, CEO of the charity, said “love and support” for those with the virus has played a critical role in HIV prevention and in driving down the transmission rates.

She was speaking ahead of the AIDSfree Cities Global Forum on January 30 where government ministers and mayors from six cities, including London, will be joined by medical experts to share their experiences of fighting HIV in big cities and to develop plans on tackling HIV together to create an Aids-free future.

The event, at The Conduit in Mayfair, will focus on the UN’s “90-90-90” targets which aim to get at least 90 per cent of people with HIV knowing their status, to get 90 per cent of these on treatment, and 90 per cent to have an “undetectable viral load”, where levels of the virus in the blood are so low it cannot be passed on.

The UK has already reached these goals but experts say more can be done in both the capital and in the five other cities our campaign is focused on which are yet to achieve the targets — Delhi in India, Nairobi in Kenya, Maputo in Mozambique, Kiev in Ukraine and Atlanta in the USA.

Ms Aslett said the event will provide a crucial opportunity for all the cities to learn lessons from one another on what is successful and how to overcome challenges.

“These cities are vastly different in many ways — size, population, infrastructure and technology — so they are experimenting with very different solutions, from basic door-to-door support to self-testing and cutting edge AI programmes,” she said.

“Bringing them together means we speed up our global understanding of not just what works but what combination of these approaches might work best.

“To have such high-level political support in doing so is really significant because unless policy-makers are listening it’s hard for things to change.”

She added: “Cities are where most of us live now. Their diversity and anonymity are a draw for people vulnerable to HIV who can feel isolated or exposed in small towns and rural areas because of their sexuality, for example.

“But city populations are also very mobile and hard to track. Figuring out how to most effectively provide services to populations in flux, and do so with compassion, has applications beyond HIV.”

Globally, 37 million people are living with HIV, rising by 1.8 million people annually. In the UK 15 people are infected every day.

Triggered by the Evening Standard’s campaign in partnership with the Elton John foundation, the forum will be hosted by the charity with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt .