CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker was on the city’s Near West Side on Wednesday morning to speak about a statewide initiative that has designs on ending the HIV epidemic in Illinois within the next decade.
Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL), as its website states, is a community engagement initiative that aims to end the HIV epidemic in Illinois by 2030.
GTZ-IL was launched in 2019, with lead partners at both the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Public Health, with "zero" being the goal of having no new HIV cases by 2030. The initiative is also part of a larger movement seeking to make sure those living with HIV have proper access to care and to dismantle stigmas often associated with HIV and AIDS.
This year, GTZ-IL released its Plan 2.0 for 2024-27, which can be viewed in its entirety HERE. This is a comprehensive update developed over a year-long process that will guide the next phase of GTZ-IL’s plan to reach "zero."
On Wednesday, Pritzker was among those gathered at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center West on Wolcott Avenue to speak about GTZ-IL, praising the initiative and vowing continued support from his administration.
"We will work together to reduce structural and institutional barriers to diagnose and treat," Pritzker said. "We will expand access to care while breaking down the stigma for people living with or vulnerable to HIV, to seek help or to receive a diagnosis as soon as possible.
"… Overcoming the stigma really matters. It really matters — the fact that we’re talking about it here, the fact that there is public coverage of it, going out and just talking about it in our communities with people … really, everybody. People need to understand this in order for us to overcome it."
Numerous community groups were also present at the event Wednesday, including the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Visit aidschicago.org for more information.
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June 26, 2024 at 12:00PM
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