HIV and public health officials kicked off a series of monthly webinars for people to learn about the second phase of Illinois’ Getting to Zero plan, which launched in June.
Getting to Zero 2.0 is an update to the state’s original plan to end the HIV epidemic in Illinois by 2030. It builds on the original plan by incorporating the successes and lessons learned since the program launched in 2019.
The first webinar, which presented a high-level overview of the Getting to Zero 2.0 plan, happened Sept. 10 and was led by leaders from Pride Action Tank, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Illinois and Chicago departments of Public Health.
“The first thing to know is that we can end the HIV epidemic in Illinois, and that ending the epidemic does not mean that we ignore the nearly 43,000 people across the state who are living with HIV,” said Kim Hunt, executive director of Pride Action Tank. “We can both decrease the number of HIV transmissions in Illinois and make sure that people who are living with and vulnerable to HIV don’t just survive, but actually thrive.”
Getting to Zero 2.0’s goal is to reach “functional zero” in Illinois, which means there are fewer than 100 new HIV transmissions a year, Hunt said. At that point, the epidemic would no longer be able to sustain itself.
At the same time, functional zero requires ensuring people who are living with HIV are in care and able to thrive, Hunt said.
Reaching functional zero will require a variety of strategies, including increasing use of PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, a medicine that can help prevent HIV infection, Hunt said. The state is also working to increase the number of people living with HIV who have undetectable viral loads, which is when the amount of HIV in the blood is so low it cannot be transmitted or detected by a standard lab test.
But Getting to Zero will require other strategies, which leaders have worked with communities to organize into three pathways toward ending the epidemic in Illinois, Hunt said.
The pathways include:
- Improving the quality of life for people living with and vulnerable to HIV by creating awareness, reducing stigma and increasing access to support services like housing, food, mental health and legal help.
- Preventing the spread of HIV and diagnosing cases of HIV as early as possible.
- Treating people who are living with HIV to increase the percentage of those who are virally suppressed
The full Getting to Zero 2.0 plan lists a number of goals and objectives under each pathway, but presenters shared just a few during the webinar. The next three webinars will examine each of the plan’s pathways in more detail, Hunt said.
The next webinar, happening Oct. 8, will be about the “improving quality of life” pathway. People can RSVP here. The next two webinars are scheduled for Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.
“We’ve got a great plan here in Illinois, [but] a plan is just words on paper unless all of us are coming together to bring it to life and make it happen every day,” said Nadine Israel, senior vice president of policy and advocacy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “So I want to say thank you to each and every one of you here today [and] folks who do this work every day. That’s going to get us to zero.”