Alliance for Public Health, 100% Life, UNAIDS are launching campaign #InYourPower to end HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and my special message is to Mayors of cities. Particularly to Mayors because they are pragmatic managers who know their communities and fix things.

Mayors can take several important steps:

– sign Paris declaration confirming the city commitment and thus join group of Mayors who are global leaders in AIDS response;
– develop city HIV program with targets to provide prevention, identify vast majority of HIV cases and immediately link them to ARV treatment;
– allocate city resource to coordinate and support the program.

We have seen great progress in cities in the region that following Mayoral commitment have taken HIV/AIDS programs as their priority Fast-track TB/HIV responses for key populations in EECA cities.