Capitol Rates

Living in the United States in 2010, it is hard to believe that we face any real threat from the effects of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. After all, we have modern medicine. We have treatment. We have countless prevention campaigns that tell us safe sex is great sex, to know our status, and if you ask any one person on the street, chances are they'll be able to reiterate those same catch phrases to you as if by script. But yet, with all of these supposed advancements in understanding of HIV in the U.S., we don't seem able to practice what we preach. With all of the gimmicky rhymes, regurgitated catch phrases, and memorized fact sheets, HIV transmission is still at an enormous rate in the U.S., and is a problem faced by too many of our citizens.

This problem is starkly geographically disproportionate. Out of 50 states, 55% of AIDS cases come from just 5. And the nation's capitol, where the HIV prevalence rate is over 3%, is now said to have surpassed many developing nations in West Africa in the severity and number of new AIDS cases. As of 2007, D.C.'s reported cases of AIDS are higher than any state in the U.S., at 148 cases per 100,000 residents. This is especially high when compared with other high-prevalence states: Maryland and New York, which each have about 24 cases per 100,00, and Florida, which has 21.7. This means that D.C.'s AIDS rate as of 2007 was higher than the top three states combined.

But Washington, D.C. got some good news this week, with a report issued by the Centers for Disease Control which shows that the spread of the disease is slowing in the district. Compared with 167 cases per 100,000 in 2004, the AIDS rate dropped to 148 cases in 2007, and has now dropped again to 107 cases per 100,000 residents as of 2008. Over a four year period, this change in AIDS prevalence represents a 22% decline, which is a major step forward for D.C. public health. The same report also indicated a 4% increase in the percentage of residents who went for HIV testing in D.C., up from 15% in 2005 to 19% in 2008.

Still, with a reported 81% of the D.C. population not being tested, and with the AIDS rate being 10 times higher than in most U.S. states, HIV continues to serve as a major threat to our nation's capitol, and this problem is not to be taken lightly. Prevention efforts which have become gimmicky and tired must be re-evaluated, and the perception of susceptibility must be emphasized to the public. Hopes are that if these efforts continue in Washington, D.C., then the number of AIDS cases will begin to drop. And with new studies being done to link the efficacy of treatment with the efforts of prevention, the horizon for halting the spread of HIV in D.C., and in the world, looks brighter and more focused every day.