New HIV Diagnoses Down 19% in Chicago
New HIV diagnoses are 19% down from 2014 in Chicago, a new report from the Chicago Department of Public Health suggests. The city’s annual HIV report showed that 27 in every 100,000 Chicago residents were diagnosed with HIV in 2018, 19% down since 2014, according to ‘Chicago Sun Times’.
“This is also the lowest number of new diagnoses we’ve seen since 1988, so that’s the big takeaway from this report,” said David Kern, deputy commissioner of the HIV/STI Bureau at the city health department. “It’s a signal that we’re moving in the right direction.”
Kern also said that Chicago is doing “a really good job” of linking newly diagnosed people with medical care. “In 2018, 81% of people newly diagnosed received care within one month; 95% received care within a year.”
According to the same report, men involved in same-sex relations saw 3.8 times as many new HIV diagnoses as heterosexual men, while non-Hispanic black people make up 55% of all new HIV diagnoses.
“This signals to us that we have to do an even better job addressing health disparities and promoting health equity among these populations,” Kern said. “We can’t end the HIV epidemic in white communities alone. We have to end it in all people living with HIV across Chicago.”
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