Checkpoint Plus Roma to be named after vanguard HIV activist Giulio Maria Corbelli

Giulio Maria Corbelli (1966-2022) was a journalist, an LGBT+ activist and a person with HIV. He has always passionately advocated, embracing the scientific method, for the quality of life and empowerment of people living with HIV.

A member of the Technical Health Committee Section M at the Ministry of Health, he was part of the panel that drafted the guidelines for antiretroviral therapies. He was one of the main architects of the battle that led to the reimbursability of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Italy.

In the international arena, he was a member of the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and represented the latter at the European Medicines Agency (EMA); he served on the Community Engagement Unit at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and on the Scientific Committee of the HIV Glasgow Conference.

Giulio Maria Corbelli was founder of PLUS and of the first Italian Checkpoint in Bologna in 2015; in 2020 he founded PLUS Roma, of which he was President and, in July 2021, inaugurated the Checkpoint in Rome.

“Empowering people to enjoy their sexual pleasure in freedom and fullness without feeling stigmatized, in a conscious way and taking care of their health has been the goal to which Giulio was most tenaciously dedicated and that all of us, peer navigators and volunteers, have shared.” says Filippo Leserri, President of PLUS Roma “Giulio was a tireless activist with an innovative vision, a great inspiration and above all a dear friend who we miss very much. Today we dedicate to him the Checkpoint that was born out of his gentle determination and passion. Then, as he would have wanted, we will have a great party!”

The Checkpoint is a model of horizontal subsidiarity with care centers, a center run by the community. It represents a response to the need to bring screening and prevention services out of the hospital setting and into informal, non-judgmental settings, thus making them more accessible. At Checkpoint the users receive counseling from peer operators, information on all prevention tools, individualized support, and can take screening tests for STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections).

According to data collected in the report of the regional epidemiology service of INMI L. Spallanzani, there were 293 new diagnoses of HIV infection in Lazio and in Rome in the year 2022, and nearly 80% were attributable to sexual transmission. Of these, about 33% are on heterosexuals and 46% are on men who have sex with men (MSM). More than 60% are late presenters; this shows that many people do not have access to testing and do not know their serological status.

These data confirm how important it is to invest on community-based centers; in the Italian cities where the community-based model has been active for the longest time (Bologna since 2015 and Milan since 2018), trends of decreasing new diagnoses can be observed, with an incidence of 1.7 for Milan and 3.1 for Bologna.

Checkpoint Plus Roma was created thanks to an agreement between the Lazio Region, INMI Spallanzani and the Asilo Savoia Foundation and represents a way to consolidate the commitment of the LGBT+ community in the sexual health protection of the citizens of Rome, especially those most exposed to the risk of HIV infection. It is located in a central area, reachable by metro A and C.

From its opening in the first half of 2024, more than 2000 cis straight, bi and gay men, trans and non-binary people have approached the Checkpoint for services on sexual health and well-being; more than 5000 rapid tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis C have been performed.

In addition, thanks to a convention – the only in Italy – which regulates scientific collaboration with the care center INMI L. Spallanzani, it is the first community-based center to offer PrEP, free of charge.

The Checkpoint also offers other services such as: peer-to-peer sharing and awareness meetings for people living with HIV and for chemsex users, and a non-medical sexual wellness orientation service in collaboration with the Department of Psychology at La Sapienza University.