The Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) is the technical and scientific advisor of the consortium responsible for implementing the “Porto, City Without AIDS” strategy until 2020, an initiative that is part of the international Fast-Track Cities – Cities on the fast track to ending the HIV epidemic in large cities.
The city of Porto is one of the subscribers of the Paris Declaration – signed in May 2017, along with Cascais and Lisbon – to reduce the stigma of HIV infection and achieve zero discrimination through the fulfillment of the goals 90-90-90, defined by the United Nations for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) by 2020. The goals are that 90% of people living with HIV know that they are infected; 90% of people who know that they are infected are being treated; and that 90% of the individuals undergoing treatment have controlled the infection.
According to Henrique Barros, the coordinator of the global strategy of “Cities on the Fast Track to End the HIV Epidemic”, in the city of Porto, “the number of HIV diagnosis per year per 100,000 inhabitants are almost double the national average. The infection is increasing markedly in men who have sex with other men at relatively young ages”.
For the President of ISPUP, one of the reasons for this growth is that “AIDS has become a kind of disease similar to all others, for which there is a very effective therapy. This makes people lower their guards. For a person to be infected with HIV, it is enough to have sex”.
At the signing ceremony of the protocol to create the consortium in Porto, which took place in City Hall on May 20th, Henrique Barros presented the various actions planned for the end of this year in the city. Among them: obtaining, in a continuous and timely manner, local data for the epidemiological characterization of the infection; increasing the frequency and access to HIV testing, as well as identifying the most frequent comorbidities; maintaining and, if possible, maximizing access to treatment; and evaluating and improving the quality of life of people at increased risk of infection or living with HIV infection.
The Institutions that signed the Protocol are the Câmara do Porto; Abraço; Administração Regional de Saúde Norte; Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento; ARRIMO – Organização Cooperativa para o Desenvolvimento Social e Comunitário; Associações Casorganizados; Farmácias de Portugal; Médicos do Mundo; Associação Nacional de Farmácias; Associação para o Planeamento da Família; Centro Hospitalar Universitário de S. João; Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto; Direção-Geral da Saúde; Direção-Geral dos Estabelecimentos Escolares – Direção de Serviços da Região Norte (DGEsTE); Federação Académica do Porto; Fundação Portuguesa “A Comunidade Contra a SIDA”; Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge; Instituto Politécnico do Porto; Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude; Norte Vida – Associação para a Promoção da Saúde; Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto; Serviço de Assistência Organizações de Maria and Universidade do Porto.
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