D.C.’s HIV Infection Rate Comparable to African Countries

Researching and writing about condoms, HIV and AIDS as much as I do, my mind almost always turns to Africa where HIV has reached epidemic levels in several countries. So, my jaw just dropped when I read the recent report that the HIV rate in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was being compared to those rates in African countries like Uganda and Kenya. According to a new report recently issued by health officials in Washington, D.C., approximately three percent of residents in D.C. are infected with HIV or AIDS and each transmission method rate (sexual contact, injected drug use, etc.) is steadily rising as well.

The report, distributed by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration, shows that HIV is quickly spreading in epidemic fashion and affecting the entire population, regardless of sex and race. The director of the administration, Shannon Hader, states, “Our rates are higher than West Africa. They’re on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya.” The 2008 report updated the 2007 study which showed that HIV was slowly beginning to affect the general population more and more instead of being limited mainly to the gay populace. The 2007 study also showed that African Americans were being more affected with HIV.

The new 2008 study has some startling statistics. In two years time, the number of HIV/AIDS cases increased by 22 percent. Approximately ten percent of D.C. residents who are in their 40s are infected with HIV and, overall, African American males have an HIV infection rate of close to seven percent. In addition, almost three percent of African American females have HIV in D.C. The report also confirmed that most transmissions were through male homosexual sex and that heterosexual sex and drug use (with infected needles) came closely behind.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s program that deals with infectious diseases, states, “This is very, very depressing news, especially considering HIV’s profound impact on minority communities. And remember: The city’s numbers are just based on people who’ve gotten tested.” For this reason exactly, the 2008 report cautions that the number of people in D.C. who are infected “is certainly higher.”

Another relevant study out of the George Washington University School of Health and Health Services researches the sexual actions and behaviors of heterosexuals. It probes the choices heterosexuals make in their sexual actions in the time before they actually get an HIV test or get infected with the virus. Findings from this study show that around 60% of those living in D.C. who are affiliated somehow with poverty-stricken and/or higher HIV-infected neighborhoods know their HIV status. The study also found that 30% of this same group of people admitted to using a condom during their last sexual encounter.