SALGA convenes Fast Track Municipalities Workshop to aid municipalities accelerate and scale-up their local AIDS responses

Posted: 24 September 2018

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) together with the South African National  Aids Council(SANAC , The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) convened a two-day fast track municipalities workshop at Aviator Hotel, Kempton Park from the 20-21 September 2018.

About 100 representatives partners IAPAC, SANAC and UNAIDS), representatives from the 19 fast track municipalities (Directors and HAST Coordinators from each municipality), representatives from Civil Society Forum, NDOH and PEPFAR, District HIV Coordinators, HAST Managers, SALGA Provincial Manager and PCA Heads of Secretariat were in attendance.

Fast-Track Cities is a global partnership between the City of Paris, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS and was launched on World AIDS Day 2014 in Paris, where mayors from 27 cities in over 50 countries convened to sign the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities a (Paris Declaration) committing to accelerate and scale-up their local AIDS responses.

Between 15 and 17 March 2016, representatives from 19 identified fast-track municipalities, SALGA, SANAC, NDOH, UNAIDS and other stakeholders gathered in Durban to commit towards achieving Fast-Track multi-sectorial targets for HIV, TB and STIs. On the 17 March 2016 during the High-Level event, 11 of the 19 identified Fast-Track Municipalities including 6 Metros signed the Paris Declaration on Ending AIDS in Cities by 2030

Delivering the opening address at the workshop, SALGA Executive Director for Community Development Mirriam Lehlokoa said it has been more than 3 years since the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities Ending AIDS, a declaration which is a milestone in the response to the HIV epidemic.

Lehlokoa said SALGA is committed to working with all other stakeholders in attaining the 90 90 90 targets. She said local government is mandated to promote social and economic development and both HIV and TB impact negatively on the attainment of this mandate hence SALGA is committed to working with all other stakeholders in attaining the 90 90 90 targets for HIV/AIDS.

Lehlokoa said following the 2016 meeting most municipalities began to put systems and structures in place to work towards fast-tracking the response to the HIV epidemic however a collaborative approach was needed for greater impact. She said SALGA has together with IAPAC and UNAIDS on 1st December 2016 at the 5th SALGA National Conference, formalised a partnership in the implementation of the Fast-Track initiative.

Dr Zuki Pinini from HealthZA shared some progress towards achieving the 90-90-90 targets for HIV and TB. Pinini said there is considerable progress however the issue of missing TB patients requires all South Africans to pull up their socks.
On the second day of the workshop, attendees reviewed progress in accelerating prevention and achieving 90-90-90 targets, they also identified gaps and bottlenecks in service delivery and recommend appropriate strategies to address them and also developed an action plan for fast tracking the response.