Pubdate: Tue, 8 Mar 2011
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: B01
Copyright: 2011 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Lena H. Sun, Washington Post Staff Writer
Referenced: The report http://drugsense.org/url/Bm5fXjLe
Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-dc (District of Columbia)

D.C. BACKSLIDING IN EFFORTS TO FIGHT AIDS, STUDY FINDS

For the first time in several years, the District is falling behind 
in its efforts to combat AIDS, according to a report to be released Tuesday.

The advocacy group DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice pointed to 
a lack of leadership by former mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) at the end 
of his term and said the city's grades declined in three other areas: 
gathering and tracking data on the illness, managing grants to groups 
that help people with the disease, and its needle exchange program.

The report called on Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) to use the bully 
pulpit of the city's top elected official to restore momentum in the 
fight against a disease that is at epidemic levels in the District. 
At least 3 percent of Washington residents have HIV or AIDS, a 
prevalence rate that is the highest for any city in the United States.

In its sixth "report card" on the city's response to the virus, the 
group noted that this is the first time there has been such 
backsliding since the group started tracking the District's HIV/AIDS 
rate in 2005. In previous reports, the District had been making 
steady and significant improvement in the AIDS fight, according to 
the group's executive director, Walter Smith.

Although the city's report card was mostly A's and B's, the only way 
for the city to win the battle on AIDS is for officials to make top 
grades in all areas over a sustained period, Smith said. "So slippage 
in key areas is, therefore, doubly troubling to us," he said.

Although Fenty said HIV/AIDS was his top health priority, the group 
took Fenty to task because "the frequency and focus of the mayor's 
involvement diminished over time," the report said. "We think that 
leadership and public engagement must go deeper than appearing at 
HIV/AIDS-themed events."

When the mayor does not make the issue a top priority, it trickles 
down to other levels of government and community partners, Smith said.

An assistant to Fenty, an adviser for a Philadelphia-based accounting 
and consulting firm among other jobs, did not respond to an e-mail or 
telephone message.

The advocacy group urged Gray to take a visible and substantive role 
in the fight against AIDS. Gray appointed a new 27-member commission 
on HIV/AIDS two weeks ago and is scheduled to hold a news conference 
Tuesday at the group's first meeting. Gray chairs the commission.

A spokesman for Gray said the mayor has made the disease his No. 1 
health priority. The commission will focus on the best ways to reduce 
barriers to treatment and develop policy recommendations for reducing 
HIV-infection rates, among other issues.

Appleseed's Smith said the commission was a good step, "but the mayor 
has to use it to make things happen."

Among the top priorities for Gray are ensuring that the District 
strengthens HIV and sexual education within public schools and 
charter schools; that the city moves forward on measuring the new 
rate of infection; and that funding for needle-exchange services is maintained.

Last month, the leading provider of clean needles to drug addicts in 
the District shut its doors. PreventionWorks had been distributing 
free needles for more than 12 years, but delays in city funds, high 
turnover of managers at the nonprofit and dwindling private donations 
forced it to close. City officials said they plan to redirect money 
originally intended for the group to two other providers.  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake