The Ad Campaign that Says AIDS is Washington, D.C.'s "Katrina"

The D.C.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is taking the staggering statistics about Washington, D.C.'s HIV/AIDS rate, and turning them into an ad campaign that shows how devastating the disease is inside the Beltway.  The ad campaign, "AIDS is D.C.'s Katrina," is up and running on dozens of bus shelters throughout the D.C. area, and depicts an image of former President George W. Bush surveying the damage from Hurricane Katrina from the windows of Air Force One.  In the foreground, however, a cardboard sign vividly says, "AIDS is D.C.'s Katrina."

Powerful stuff.  Especially given the statistics that lie behind the ad.  The HIV/AIDS rate in Washington, D.C. is higher than several African countries, at nearly 3% of the total population, and clinics in D.C. have seen a 232% increase in the number of cases they're diagnosing.  Those types of statistics certainly deserve and merit a vivid public advertising campaign.

Here's what Michael Weinstein, the head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, had to say about the campaign:

Katrina quickly came to symbolize the Bush administration's neglect and indifference of some of America's most vulnerable citizens. Today, 56,000 new HIV infections each year in the United States, a 40% increase from last year, symbolizing neglect and indifference -- and the failure of our U.S. HIV prevention efforts.

The fact that Washington, D.C.'s HIV prevalence rate is now higher than some hard-hit African countries is an indictment of how the CDC has failed to lead in HIV prevention efforts. When this news about Washington's HIV rate first broke in March, President Obama remained silent. Despite his silence on AIDS to date, we hope this ad will prod President Obama to act forcefully on AIDS, and we remain hopeful he will be the change that we can believe in -- and urgently need -- on AIDS.

Prodding Obama to change domestic policies related to HIV/AIDS care is also the vision behind a related Web site, changeaidsobama.org, which seeks to use the images in the advertising campaign to pressure the Obama administration into adopting serious policy reforms to address high rates of HIV/AIDS, including overturning a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs (a pledge Obama made during his Presidential campaign, but one that he's backed off of since taking office).

Click here to view an ad for changeaidsobama.org.  Check out their message, and if you agree, check out their action section and send a letter to President Obama asking him to be the "change we can believe in" on HIV/AIDS.

The decimation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina is still being felt four years later.  For those suffering from HIV/AIDS, it's been 28 years.  In both instances, government response was slow, inadequate, and disastrous.