More than 1 in 30 adults, or a full one-third of all residents, in Washington, D.C., are reportedly HIV positive, a prevalence higher than even the ghastly conditions in the African nations of Ethiopia, Nigeria and Rwanda, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. Even more deplorable is the fact that 1 in 16 black men in the District are carriers of the virus, with many of them purposely or blissfully unaware of their terminal status.
These detestable numbers are not always because of a lack of infrastructure to combat the disease. Testing sites, treatment centers, education and preventive tools are available, but insufficient to address the abysmal numbers. Just as important is that more than 20 percent of the estimated 1 million HIV-positive Americans are unaware of their status, with many refusing to be tested. And in the District, there is no law that says people must know their status, so they don’t, and there is no known way to prevent people who know they are HIV positive from continually engaging in reckless sexual behavior.
Part of the problem is because these local populations have unprotected sex within what the Journal calls “relatively insular social-sexual networks.” Lower-income black Americans with poor education and unstable housing are disproportionately affected. Black and Hispanic women are the ultimate losers: this group make up more than 25 percent of new HIV infections in the U.S.
Thus far in his administration, President Obama, who is immersed in a plethora of domestic and global crises, has not made combating HIV and AIDS a national priority. And, incredibly, local health officials in D.C. told actor and AIDS activist Blair Underwood that they needed no help in addressing the issue, the Washington Post reported.
Are you kidding?
There is hope, however. Additional behavioral studies, better communication, and preventive education need to be directed toward the identified at-risk communities, and it is coming. Underwood, for his part, remained undeterred. Despite the opposition, the Hollywood veteran opened the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Blair Underwood Healthcare Center in D.C. He already has an acclaimed “Man Up” campaign to combat AIDS in his Los Angeles hometown. –terry shropshire
