Fighting HIV/AIDS In Washington, D.C.

Abstract

Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States and is a major center for public health and health policy expertise. Yet the District of Columbia has an HIV prevalence rate among adults of 3 percent, on par with some sub-Saharan African countries. To date, the local public health response has not controlled the epidemic. The ways in which that response has been galvanized in recent years--through collaboration among the capital's public health agencies, community and faith organizations, and research institutions--may be instructive to other jurisdictions combating HIV/AIDS.

Constructing the cascade of HIV care

“…The structure was taken up almost immediately, with at least one publication by Giordano et al [20] in 2005, using a modified version of the Teshale et al [19] staging in its analysis later that year. One of the earliest examples of a bar chart-type cascade graphic for HIV was presented by Greenberg et al [21], in Washington DC, USA, followed by what is likely to be the most frequently cited article in this literature, by Gardner et al [22], on the 2011 US national HIV treatment cascade.…”

Special Issue: Structural and Molecular Biology of HIV

“…About 5% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is HIV positive. HIV infection rates in several major U.S. cities are similar to those in some sub-Saharan African countries, 4 and in Washington D.C., one out of twenty adults is HIV positive. 5 The remarkably prolific development of therapeutics for the treatment of AIDS was greatly facilitated by structure-based drug discovery efforts.…”

Development of an HIV Testing Dashboard to Complement the HIV Care Continuum Among MSM, PWID, and Heterosexuals in Washington, DC, 2007–2015

“…8,18 In addition, much research and programming to increase HIV care engagement has been conducted in Washington, DC, which may also have contributed to increased proportions of HIV care engagement observed across all populations over time. 6,29–35 …”

“…3–5 In Washington, DC, a city with high HIV prevalence, the DC Department of Health has increased access to HIV testing over the last 10 years, conducting 163,000 publicly-funded HIV tests in 2014, a 4.3 fold increase since 2006. 6–9 NHBS assesses lifetime and recent HIV testing in key populations, but these estimates have not been comprehensively examined locally to identify gaps in testing coverage and trends in testing over time.…”

“…6,10 In 2014, the CDC estimated 40% of those diagnosed were engaged in HIV care, 37% were prescribed antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and only 30% had achieved viral suppression. 11 Since persons who are aware of their HIV infection and virally suppressed are less likely to transmit HIV, high levels of coverage at each step are integral to HIV prevention and reduction of HIV-related morbidity and mortality.…”