Aug 29, 2003  |  By: LAUREL FAUST  | COMMENTS     

The District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Administration could not explain why the per capita incidence of AIDS diagnoses in the District is higher than in any other major cities, with officials claiming that another report would be needed before they could reach any conclusions.

Other experts cited governmental failure, a high at-risk population and complacency as among the factors leading to the high number of AIDS cases in the city.

HAA issued a report in July authored by Guy Weston, director of data and research, which showed that D.C. has a rate of 119 AIDS diagnoses per 100,000 residents. Data from 2001, the first year the information was compiled, revealed 678 new AIDS diagnoses. This is a higher rate of incidence than New York, Baltimore and San Francisco, among other cities.

An AIDS diagnosis is a medical term used to describe the progression of HIV, the AIDS virus, in a person to such a degree that it compromises their immune system, as determined either from the presence of opportunistic infections or a low T-cell count. The percentage of new AIDS cases is, however, indirectly related to the number of new HIV infections in the District and surrounding area, AIDS activists said.

In response to Blade inquiries about the higher number of per capita AIDS cases, the District’s HIV/AIDS Administration sent a three-page written response claiming the incidence rate is lower in larger cities because there are more people.

“Other cities known to have a large number of AIDS cases, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, have much larger populations. These cities have populations of 9 million, 3.7 million and 2.9 million respectively. The large denominator thus brings the rate per 100,000 down,” HAA stated in its response.

Joan Wright Andoh, HAA chief of HIV/AIDS surveillance, confirmed that statistic.

“Cities with larger denominators make the total numbers go down,” she said.

Playing with numbers
Bob Summersgill, treasurer of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, said that this is another instance in which HAA “plays with numbers.”

“It shouldn’t affect the rate,” he said. “The rate is a per capita thing.”

When pressed about the numbers, Wright Andoh said that another report would be needed to explain why the rate of incidence is higher in D.C. than in other cities.

The HAA response also listed a high poverty rate, lower education levels, lack of health insurance, a high rate of IV-drug use and traditional sexual disease (gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia) as contributing factors to the high incidence level.

Summersgill said that while these factors are present, other cities face these problems as well. He blamed the high rate rather on a failed public health system and said that HAA is a major part of the failure.

“I don’t think our problems are unique, but our government is barely functional,” Summersgill said.

Brent Minor, chair of President Bush’s HIV Advisory Committee, agreed to address the rising D.C. AIDS rate, but not in his official capacity. Minor said the District has traditionally taken a very piecemeal approach to prevention and that the new statistics should serve as a wake up call.

“We need to talk very bluntly and openly about HIV and how it is spread and who is at risk,” said Minor, who also serves as chair of the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS and is the former co-chair of the District’s Ryan White Planning Council. “The more open and frank we are in our discussions of HIV, the more people will hear that message and will take it seriously. We’re so timid about stepping on people’s toes that we forget that we’re stepping over dead bodies.”

Tony Bullock, communications director for Mayor Anthony Williams, acknowledged the city’s problems.

“Our health stats in the District of Columbia are abysmal, and we need to do something about it,” Bullock said. “We’ve had the unfortunate distinction of having one of the highest incidence rates in the nation for many, many years.”

Bullock noted the long-standing acrimony between gay activists and HAA. He said the mayor has confidence in Ron Lewis, who used to head HAA and now — as deputy director for the Department of Health — oversees the District’s AIDS agency.

“The mayor has no specific information that would suggest we have a problem. If specific information is brought to his attention, he’ll certainly look into it,” Bullock said.

Bullock said that in January the mayor instructed the inspector general to look into the financial operations of HAA, but he didn’t know if the matter had been resolved.

Attempts to reach Lewis or Weston by press time were unsuccessful.

Wright Andoh and others ...