As part of its recognition of World AIDS Day 2017, the City of West Hollywood has produced and released a short video called “Getting to Zero” that features an emotionally captivating interview with Jeffrey Rodriguez, program manager of the Los Angeles LGBT Center WeHo’s sexual health education program, and highlights the city’s work on its “HIV Zero” initiative.
The video, shown above, will be screened tonight at the annual Paul Starke Warrior Awards, following the World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil, information about which is posted below.
HIV and AIDS have had a disproportionate impact in the City of West Hollywood, 40% of whose population is composed of gay men, who have an exceptionally high risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The city’s HIV Zero Strategic Plan outlines a plan to “get to zero” on many fronts: zero new infections; zero progression of HIV to AIDS; zero discrimination; and zero stigma. For additional information about the City of West Hollywood’s HIV Zero Strategic Plan, please visit.
A recent report from the city’s Human Services & Rent Stabilization Department calls out the four goals of the city’s HIV Zero initiative, which are increasing access to healthcare for people living with HIV and people at an elevated risk for acquiring HIV, reducing new HIV infections, reducing HIV-related disparities and health inequalities and slowing disease progression from HIV to AIDS.
The report explains work the city has done in the past year to collect West Hollywood-specific data on HIV infection and treatment to track the progress of the HIV Zero initiative. It shows that the group mostly likely to acquire HIV in West Hollywood is young men aged 18 to 34, who have an HIV infection rate of 57.7 per 10,000 residents versus 31.6 per 10,000 residents for men aged 35 to 44 and 8.9 per 10,000 for men aged 45 and older.
The report shows that 18 to 34-year-old group also is the least likely to have adequate health insurance. Data from 2015 shows that 78.7% had adequate health insurance while 85% of those 35 and over had such insurance.
The city’s HIV Zero plan can be downloaded from the city’s website.
