Nearly 300 people infected with HIV from across the country rallied outside Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Saturday to call on the president, Congress and society to renew commitments to end the AIDS epidemic, according to The Washington Post.
The crowd, organized by the Campaign to End AIDS, then marched to Anacostia Park to call attention to the virus's growing devastation of the black community, especially in D.C.
Over the next three days, leaders of the campaign will lobby Congress for more attention and money to research the disease.
Washington has a far higher incidence of AIDS - 170.6 cases per 100,000 people, according to federal statistics - than other major U.S. cities, including New York and San Francisco. Approximately one in 20 D.C. residents is infected with HIV.
