In this webinar, Melvin Laureano and Mike Maginn of the Illinois Public Health Association, along with community member Dion McNeal, share how the Illinois HIV Care Connect outreach program links persons living with HIV to essential services — resulting in retention in care, adherence to medication, viral suppression, reduced HIV transmission rates, and better overall health outcomes.
Focused on addressing health disparities, the webinar covers how Illinois HIV Care Connect works to address persistent structural and societal inequities affecting young HIV-positive African-American and Latino men who have sex with men. The program links them to medical care, supportive services, and antiretroviral treatment essential to improving their health outcomes, quality of life, and ability to achieve viral suppression. A trained team of outreach workers links those who are newly diagnosed with HIV, who have fallen out of HIV care, or who may not know their HIV status to a broad range of services.