Speaking at a World AIDS Day candlelight vigil in Dupont Circle on Thursday, Dec. 1, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray stressed his administration remains committed to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington.
Gray pointed out to the roughly 75 people who gathered in the circle that 122,000 HIV tests took place in the District last year. The city also distributed 5 million female and male condoms.
The mayor said the number of new HIV cases in the District dropped by 50 percent last year--60 percent among intravenous drug users in 2010. The city's prevalence rate, however, remains roughly 300 percent higher than the national average with 3 percent of Washingtonians living with HIV.
"We have made enormous strides over the years in fighting this epidemic, but we have a long ways to go," said Gray.
Gray also presented Whitman-Walker Health Executive Director Don Blanchon with a proclamation that proclaimed Dec 1, 2011, World AIDS Day in the District.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Gray Attends World AIDS Day Vigil in Dupont Circle
Video: Obama Delivers World AIDS Day Speech in Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama used his World AIDS Day speech at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Dec. 1, to reaffirm his administration's commitment to fighting the domestic and global AIDS epidemic.
Obama announced an additional $50 million for HIV medical clinics and state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. He also unveiled new targets to further combat the spread of the global AIDS epidemic. These include providing anti-retroviral drugs to more than 1.5 million pregnant women with HIV over the next two years and an overall goal of getting six million people with the virus on these life-saving treatments.
An estimated 33 million people around the world currently live with HIV. 1.2 million Americans currently live with the virus.
Obama, Bush and Clinton to Participate in World AIDS Day Forum
President Barack Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are among those who will participate in a World AIDS Day forum at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., later on Thursday, Dec. 1.
ONE and (RED) will host a forum that will focus on "the beginning of the end of AIDS." Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete; CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; California Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Bono; Alicia Keys; Dr. Patricia Nkansah-Asamoah, director of the PMTCT Clinic at Tema Hospital in Accra, Ghana; Florence Ngobeni of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Kay Warren are also slated to participate.
More than three decades after the first cases of what became known as AIDS were reported, more than 33 million people around the world currently live with the virus.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told federal health officials and HIV/AIDS service providers during a speech at the National Institutes of Health on Nov. 8 that a so-called AIDS-free generation is possible. A Centers for Disease Control report earlier this week indicates that only 28 percent of the 1.2 million Americans with HIV have viral counts that are considered under control.
