London became a signatory to the international UNAIDS/IAPAC* HIV Fast-Track Cities (FTC) Initiative in January 2018. It is an excellent opportunity for London to move further and faster in its HIV response. 

Since the signing event, the four joint-signatories (Public Health England, NHS England, London Councils and the Mayor of London) have formed a Kickstart group. This is a small working group comprising representatives of the signatory bodies, IAPAC, the HIV community and HIV specialist clinicians.

The key tasks of the Kickstart group are to:

• Oversee a process of open engagement with stakeholders 
• Commission and manage a pan-London analysis of existing HIV related assets and gaps
• Bring together a formal HIV Fast Track Cities Initiative leadership group 

Successful stakeholder engagement will enable co-production of the London HIV asset and gap analysis. The leadership group will use this to inform the development of plans that will enable London to achieve the goals of the Fast Track Cities Initiative.

The Kickstart group is supported by the Healthy London Partnership team and will work to deliver the immediate set-up phase of the initiative.

Highlights

Since January, the group has carried out work that will underpin London’s Fast- Track Cities Initiative leadership group. Progress includes:

• establishing Healthy London Partnership as the secretariat and host of the  Initiative  
• securing grant funding for key pieces of work
• planning and organising a stakeholder engagement event to be held on July 13th 2018 at the King’s Fund 
• writing the specification and commissioning Pathway Analytics to undertake   a London wide HIV asset and gap analysis(commenced on June 18th 2018)

The Kickstart Group has also been working with The International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) to develop London’s Fast Track Cities Initiative dashboard. This will be available at the engagement event in July for stakeholder review. Access details and more information will be shared following the launch.

If you would like any more information or have a question please get in touch with Jess Drummond (jess.drummond@nhs.net).

*The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC)  

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