History of Baton Rouge Ending the HIV Epidemic Commission

In January 2018, Mayor Broome signed the Fast Track Cities Treaty.  The Fast-Track Cities Initiative (FTCI) is a global partnership between cities and municipalities around the world and four core partners – the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the City of Paris. 

• 90 percent of all people living with HIV (PLHIV) will know their status

• 90 percent of all PLHIV will receive sustained Anti-Retroviral Therapy

• 90 percent of all PLHIV on ART will have durable viral suppression

In 2019, the City of Baton Rouge was identified as an Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) jurisdiction by the CDC. HealthyBR took the work it was doing as a part of FTCI and pivoted to launch an Ending the HIV Epidemic Commission in partnership with the Louisiana Dept. of Health and Baton Rouge Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The EHE Commission spent a year working with medical providers, public health officials,  community-based organizations, and people living with HIV to write an Ending the HIV Epidemic Plan for Baton Rouge. The plan focuses on the four pillars  of EHE:

• Diagnose: Diagnose all people with HIV as early as possible. 

• Treat: Treat people with HIV rapidly and effectively to reach sustained viral suppression 

• Prevent: Prevent new HIV transmissions by using proven interventions, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and syringe services programs (SSPs) 

• Respond: Respond quickly to potential HIV outbreaks to get vital prevention and treatment services to people who need them 

Want to learn more about Baton Rouge's Ending the HIV Epidemic plan, you read it here!