The Getting to Zero Consortium met on the evening of November 29th to commemorate World AIDS Day.

The meeting opened with a moment of silence to remember the near 250 San Franciscans, 6,000 in the US and 1 million globally who have died from HIV-related illness and to show support for those currently living with HIV.

Following the moment of silence, Senator Scott Wiener and San Francisco AIDS Foundation Senior Director for Policy & Strategy, Courtney Mulhern-Pearson, spoke to the Consortium about pressing national and local policy issues including immigration, tax reform and the Affordable Care Act, PrEP assistance program (PrEP-AP) roll-out, and the safe consumption services bill.

GTZ Committee Chairs shared their committee’s many accomplishments over the past year, focusing on accomplishments and challenges in addressing health inequities and disparities.  We had a highly engaging  discussion led by Hyman Scott and Vincent Fuqua about the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) campaign – the science behind U=U and what it means to us in the fight against HIV stigma, both as individuals and within our different communities, and ideas on how GTZ can build on this campaign locally.

Please see slides from the evening here:  11.29.17 GTZ World AIDS Day Consortium Meeting