ABOVE: Health directors from Connecticut launch the “Getting to Zero” campaign. Photo courtesy of the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Twitter.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) | The Connecticut Department of Public Health is launching a new campaign to eradicate HIV/AIDS in the state.
The goal of the “Getting to Zero” initiative is to have no new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths or stigma and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS.
The campaign focuses on the five cities with the most people living with HIV: Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury and Stamford.
DPH Commissioner Raul Pino says “great strides” have been made to curb HIV infections and improve health outcomes, but the virus that attacks the immune system continues to have a “grossly disproportionate impact on young men having sex with men, particularly in communities of color.”
He says HIV is also impacting black women and transgender individuals.
Community listening sessions are planned this summer in all five participating cities.
