In celebration of LGBT Health Week, the Chicago Department of Public Health ( CDPH ) hosted a community discussion on HIV and sexually transmitted infections ( STIs ) in Chicago's LGBT community on March 28.
The event, at Center on Halsted in Lakeview, included an overview of CDPH's 2013 HIV/STI Surveillance Report and a panel discussion where local leaders outlined how the community can use this information to combat the spread of HIV and STIs.
The 2013 HIV/STI Surveillance Report provides detailed information on rates of HIV and STIs across Chicago. While the number of new cases of HIV and AIDS diagnosed are going down across the City, the exception is among young men who have sex with men ( MSM ) who have seen a 5 percent increase in annual infection rates since 2007.
Additional findings included in the report are:
Over the past five years, 20-24-year-olds in Chicago are the only group continuing to see a rise in new HIV infections.
Those under 30 now compose nearly 40 percent of all new HIV diagnoses.
Adolescents and young adults compose the majority of STI diagnoses in Chicago, in 2012; those 13 to 24 years old composed 67 percent of gonorrhea cases and 71 percent of chlamydia cases, while 47 percent of syphilis cases were among those under age 30.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion that included Edwin Corbin-Gutierrez, director of youth empowerment, Center on Halsted; Dr. Travis Gayles, MD, pediatrician, Lurie Children's Hospital; Dr. Tarek Mikati, MD, medical director, HIV/STI Division, CDPH; and Nik Prachand, director, HIV/STI surveillance, epidemiology and research, CDPH. Precious Davis, youth empowerment coordinator at Center on Halsted, moderated the discussion.
The full report is at www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/cdph/infectious_disease/STI_HIV_AIDS/HIV_STISurveillanceReport2013.pdf.