ABOUT THE DATA
On this page you can find the graph indicator definitions and explore details including the demographic category definitions, acronyms, and data sources.
The 2023 GTZ HIV Dashboard presents the most recent data available for multiple indicators. Data for health measures obtained from HIV and STI surveillance data for 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to HIV testing, care services, and HIV/STI surveillance activities at the local and state level. Steep declines in HIV/STI diagnoses measures from 2019 to 2020 may be due to disruptions in clinical care services, patient hesitancy in accessing clinical services, and shortages in HIV/STI testing reagents/materials. For more information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV surveillance data, please refer to CDC’s HIV surveillance report.
Indicator Definitions
This page lists the definitions found on the dashboard graphs. To facilitate comparison, these indicator definitions align with those set forth by the CDC.
Progress Measures Graph Indicators
Awareness of HIV Status: Percentage of people 13 years and older estimated to be living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV infection who are living with diagnosed HIV
Engaged in Care: Number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV infection with at least one CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result by the end of the calendar year divided by the total number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV
Late HIV Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection who were diagnosed with stage 3 HIV (AIDS) within 12 months of HIV diagnosis
Linkage to Care: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV with a CD4, VL, or genotype lab result within 30 days after their date of diagnoses divided by the total number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
New HIV Infection Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
PrEP Coverage: Number of persons aged equal to or greater than 16 years classified as having been prescribed PrEP divided by the estimated number of persons who had indications for PrEP
Viral Suppression: Number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV infection with a viral load less than 200 copies/mL at the end of the calendar year divided by the total number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV infection
Health Measures Graph Indicators
Prevention
HIV Testing in Adults (BRFSS): People who answered yes to the question “Have you ever been tested for HIV? (not counting tests you may have had as part of a blood donation, including testing fluid from your mouth.)”. (Data are only available for Illinois)
HIV Testing in Youth (YRBSS): Percentage of high school students who reported having been tested for HIV.
Condom Use Among Youth (YRBSS): The percentage of high school students who answered yes to the question “The last time you had sexual intercourse, did you or your partner use a condom”.
PrEP Awareness: Percent of respondents who have heard of people who do not have HIV who are taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk of getting HIV
Diagnoses
CD4 Count at Diagnosis (Initial CD4 Count): The value of the first CD4 lab test conducted within 6 months of the date of diagnosis, among new HIV infection diagnoses 13 years of age or older
Late HIV Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection who were diagnosed with stage 3 HIV (AIDS) within 12 months of HIV diagnosis
New AIDS Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with stage 3 HIV Infection (AIDS)
New HIV Infection Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
Progression from HIV to AIDS (1-24 months): Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with stage 3 HIV infection (AIDS) between 30 days and two years after the date of HIV diagnosis
Prevalence
HIV Prevalence: People living with diagnosed HIV infection 13 years of age or older, based on current address
Care and Treatment
Days Until First Suppressed Viral Load: The number of days from date of diagnosis to first VL lab result less than 200 copies/mL among persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
Days Until Linkage to Care: The number of days from date of diagnosis to first CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result among persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
Engaged in Care: Number of people diagnosed with HIV infection with a CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result within the most recent year
Linkage to Care: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with a CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result within XX days after their date of diagnosis
Linkage to Care within 1 Month: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with a CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result within 30 days after their date of diagnosis
New Diagnoses: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
New HIV Infection Diagnoses Virally Suppressed: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with a viral load less than 200 copies/mL 1 year after their date of diagnosis
People Living with Diagnosed HIV (PLWDH): Number of people 13 years of age or older diagnosed and living with HIV infection based on most recent address
Recent HIV Diagnoses: Number of people diagnosed with HIV infection in the previous 5 years
Retained in Care: PLWDH 13 years of age or older with a CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result at least 90 days apart and within the calendar year
Sustained Linkage: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with 2 CD4, VL, or genotype lab results conducted at least 90 days apart within a year of date of diagnosis
Sustained Viral Suppression: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with 2 viral load results less than 200 copies/mL within 1 year of their date of diagnosis
Virally Suppressed: PLWDH 13 years of age or older whose most recent viral load was less than 200 copies/mL
Deaths
Deaths Among People Living with Diagnosed HIV Infection: Number of deaths due to any cause among people 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV infection
Priority Populations
Engaged in Care: Number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV infection with at least one CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result by the end of the calendar year divided by the total number of persons 13 years of age or older living with diagnosed HIV
Late HIV Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection who were diagnosed with stage 3 HIV (AIDS) within 12 months of HIV diagnosis
Linkage to Care: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV with a CD4, VL, or genotype lab result within 30 days after their date of diagnoses divided by the total number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
New HIV Infection Diagnoses: Number of persons 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection
People Living with Diagnosed HIV (PLWDH): Number of people 13 years of age or older diagnosed and living with HIV infection based on most recent address
Retained in Care: PLWDH 13 years of age or older with a CD4, viral load, or genotype lab result at least 90 days apart and within the calendar year
Sustained Linkage: Number of people 13 years of age or older newly diagnosed with HIV infection with 2 CD4, VL, or genotype lab results conducted at least 90 days apart within a year of date of diagnosis
Virally Suppressed: PLWDH 13 years of age or older whose most recent viral load was less than 200 copies/mL
Social Determinants Measures Graph Indicators
Economic Stability
Sustained Employment: The percent of respondents who are employed full-time or part-time. Respondents who were homemakers, full-time students, retired or did not answer this question were excluded
Health Care System
Condom Availability: The percent of respondents who in the past 12 months have gotten any free condoms, not just counting those given to them by a friend, relative, or sexual partner
Health Coverage: The percent of respondents who currently have health insurance or health care coverage
Justice Involved and HIV Tested: The percent of respondents who were in detention, jail, or prison, and got a test for HIV during the past 12 months
HPV Vaccination: The percent of respondents who have received a vaccine against Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
Education and Training
Sex Education (YRBSS): The percentage of high school students who reported having received education in school.
Demographic Category Definitions
To ensure comparability with national data, most demographic category definitions follow those described in the CDC HIV Surveillance report.
Race and Ethnicity
In the Federal Register for October 30, 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Implementation by January 1, 2003 was mandated. At a minimum, data on the following race categories should be collected:
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Asian
- Black or African American
- Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
- White
Additionally, systems must be able to retain information when multiple race categories are reported. In addition to data on race, data on 2 categories of ethnicity should be collected:
- Hispanic or Latino
- not Hispanic or Latino
“Other/Unknown” race/ethnicity includes NH American Indian/Alaska Native, NH multiple race, people of unreported race/ethnicity, and subgroups with cases less than 5.
Gender
Cisgender represents people whose gender identity and/or gender expression is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.
Male: persons assigned “male” sex at birth and current gender identity is “male”.
Female: persons assigned “female” sex at birth and current gender identity is “female”.
“Transgender” is a term typically used to describe individuals whose current gender differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The health department collects information on gender, including transgender identity, through HIV case report forms and laboratory results which can date back several years. As such, different approaches for estimating the number of transgender individuals with HIV have been used during this period. There are other limitations to how these data were collected: over time, current gender identity, and thus transgender status as well, may change. Moreover, transgender individuals may or may not feel comfortable disclosing their transgender status either directly or indirectly to medical staff. For these or other reasons, individuals who are categorized as transgender at one point in time may or may not be categorized as transgender at another.
To address these limitations as best as possible, the Illinois Department of Public Health HIV Surveillance Unit presents data for “Ever Transgender” to represent all persons who had a documented gender identity that differed from the sex to which they were assigned at birth, on any case report or laboratory report submitted to the health department, or in any disease registry or HIV case management database, with which HIV Registry data are matched. The Chicago Department of Health Syndemic Infectious Disease Bureau presents data for “Current Transgender” to represent people whose most recently reported gender identity is different than the sex they were assigned at birth.
When looking at Illinois data for the transgender population:
Ever Trans female: persons assigned “male” sex at birth who ever had a documented gender identity listed as “male to female”
Ever Trans male: persons assigned “female” sex at birth who ever had a documented gender identity listed as “female to male”
When looking at Chicago data for the transgender population:
Current Trans female: persons assigned “male” sex at birth who most recently reported their gender as “male to female.”
Current Trans male: persons assigned “female” sex at birth who most recently reported their gender as “female to male.”
Age
For presentations of data on deaths of persons with diagnosed HIV infection, age-group assignment is determined by the person’s age at the time of death. For all other tables, the age designation refers to age at time of diagnosis.
Age-group designations for transmission categories in figures and tables displaying data on prevalence and on deaths are based on a person’s age at the end of the specified year or age at death, respectively.
Transmission Category
“Heterosexual” refers to heterosexual contact transmission.
“PWID” includes people who transmit HIV through injection drug use.
“TWSM” includes trans women who have sex with men and trans women with a history of injection drug use who have sex with men.
“MSM” includes men who have sex with men, and men with a history of injection drug use who have sex with men.
“Other/Unknown” transmission category includes perinatal transmission, blood transfusion, hemophilia, and no identified risk.
For surveillance purposes, a diagnosis of HIV infection is counted only once in the hierarchy of transmission categories. Adults with more than 1 reported risk factor for HIV infection are classified in the transmission category listed first in the hierarchy.
In the latest dashboard release, the method of multiple imputation is no longer used to assign a transmission category for HIV cases without an identified reported risk factor. As a result, compared to last year’s dashboard health measures graphs, you will see a higher proportion of cases with “Other/Unknown” risk and smaller proportions of people in the other transmission categories displayed in the dashboard.
Cell suppression is used to balance data confidentiality and accessibility. Data for demographic subcategories with less than 5 cases are suppressed and thus not displayed in graphs. If data for only one demographic subcategory is suppressed and the total number of cases is such that the suppressed value could be inadvertently disclosed through subtraction (referred to as back-calculation), then data from a second demographic subcategory with the next lowest cell size is also suppressed.
Acronyms
The following list is a guide for how terms are defined across this dashboard.
AA = African American
AIDS = Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
ART= Anti-Retroviral Therapy
BRFSS = The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDPH = Chicago Department of Public Health
CI = A 95% confidence interval indicates that you can be 95% confident that the true proportion is between the two numbers
CPS = Chicago Public Schools
eHARS = Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System
EMA = Eligible Metropolitan Area
HIV = Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HOPWA = Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS
IDPH = Illinois Department of Public Health
MSM = Gay, bisexual, same gender loving, and other men who have sex with men and men who have sex with men with a history of injection drug use
NH = Non-Hispanic
PI = Pacific Islander
PLWH = People Living with HIV/AIDS
PLWDH = People Living with diagnosed HIV/AIDS
PWID = People Who Inject Drugs
P&S Syphilis = Primary and Secondary Syphilis
STI = Sexually Transmitted Infection
VL = Viral Load
YRBSS = Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
Data Sources
- Chicago Department of Public Health Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System (eHARS)
- Illinois Department of Public Health HIV Surveillance Unit Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System (eHARS)
- Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)
- The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
- National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS)
