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Ahead of next month’s International
AIDS Conference in Washington, an assessment released Wednesday shows that HIV
remains at epidemic levels in the District.
The D.C. Department of Health’s
annual HIV/AIDS update, which covers 2010, shows that 14,465 people were living
with the disease that year, for a prevalence rate of 2.7 percent among
residents older than 12. This is among the highest prevalence rates of any US
city. The figure is more accurate than in previous years due to an improved
tracking system that eliminates duplication.
In a statement, Mayor Vincent C.
Gray (D) noted Washington has improved its ability to quickly connect those
diagnosed with HIV/AIDS to care. In 2010, 76.1 percent of infected people were
linked to care within three months, up from 58 percent in 2006.
However, data from an ongoing
CDC-funded survey of 21 cities show Washington has a “very serious heterosexual
epidemic,” said Greg Pappas, the Health Department’s senior director. In 2008,
the survey sampled 750 heterosexuals in areas of the District with high rates
of infection and poverty; it found an overall infection rate of 5.2 percent,
climbing to 6.3 percent among at-risk women. By 2010, those rates had risen to
8 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively. The demographic characteristics of
the 482 participants in 2010 were similar to those in the previous survey:
Nearly all were black; 62 percent earned less than $10,000; and 37 percent were
unemployed.
Officials noted that the survey
interviewed individuals with connections to high-risk social networks, in which
HIV infection is high and the chances of becoming infected are greater. Pappas
said the sample size also is limited.
But unlike other cities where the
at-risk population is concentrated among IV drug users or men who have sex with
men, Washington has a very “mixed epidemic” that disproportionately affects
blacks. In addition, 20 percent to 30 percent of the District’s HIV-positive
residents are “probably walking around infected and don’t know it,” Pappas
said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit:
http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
