Highest HIV Rates in the Nation? Look to our Capitol

On World AIDS Days, much of the focus is outside the U.S., on the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. Indeed, of the over 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS, over two-thirds of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa and over 30 million of them live in low- and middle-income countries.

But that ignores Washington, D.C., which has what Time Magazine calls a "surging epidemic" of HIV/AIDS. Around 3 percent of the capitol's population is HIV positive, the highest rate in the nation. The city's rate of infection is higher than that in Port Au Prince, Haiti, the poorest city in the Western Hemisphere and is similar to rates in Uganda and parts of Kenya. It is estimated that 1 in 20 D.C. residents are currently living with HIV.

Rather than a statistical blip, the reasons for the high rates of HIV in D.C. are political, cultural and deeply ingrained. A documentary film, The Other City, which profiles people living with AIDS in D.C. and premieres tonight on Showtime, explores the multitude of factors that have lead to the numbers:

"HIV/AIDS is wrapped in a thicket of American prejudices and discomfort about homosexuality, race, class, and drugs -- all of which fuel opposition to life-saving programs like needle exchange. Federal denial of funding for clean syringe programs has created both a higher incidence of the disease and helped shift its demographic to one that is increasingly poor, black and Hispanic."

In a way, the HIV epidemic in the capitol mirrors that of the world, with the burden being shifted to the poor and those least-equipped to deal with the enormous toll of the disease or unable to afford the drugs that make it a manageable condition.

This year's World AIDS Day focus is on protecting the human rights of people affected by HIV, including right to health but also right to education, employment, housing and social support. And activists in D.C. are speaking out for these rights in Washington.

The Women's Collective, a D.C.-based non-profit that provides HIV managament and prevention for women, helps over 250 families and advocates for policies, like the National HIV/AIDS Strategy that President Obama recently launched. The collective, which is profiled in The Other City, was started in 1993 by Patricia Nalls, who found out she was HIV-positive after her husband and daughter died from AIDS complications.

Since housing is a key issue for health and a critical concern for those living with HIV, the group DC Fights Back, a network of HIV/AIDS positive people and their allies that engage in community advocacy, are holding a World AIDS Day Rally, 'Home is LIFE', to bring attention to the lack of housing available to poor and low-income individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS.

Dozens of activists will gather today at Freedom Plaza in D.C. to share their concern about the growing numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS and those on the AIDS housing waiting list. They seek "housing for every person on the HIV & AIDS housing wait list and developing a strategy that prevents the list from growing again."

Things are changing in the White House, as Obama reopened the Office of National of AIDS and launched the National HIV/AIDS Strategy in July. Needle exchange policies have also become more progressive and health care reform will help insure many of those that are HIV-positive -- yet another reason to support the Affordable Care Act.

And for the first time since 1990, the International AIDS Conference will in Washington, DC, in 2012. But will the city be ready for it?

To support efforts in the D.C., sign this petition calling on a well-known AIDS groups to bring attention to the epidemic in D.C.

Photo credit: FighHIVinDC