AU students and professors say they believe D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's plan for a new HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to inform residents that the District has the highest rate HIV/AIDS in the nation is an important new step in reducing the rate.
The D.C. Department of Health has drawn a multi-year contract with Fenty in order to educate D.C. residents on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to Lashon Beamon, the department's interim director of communications and community relations.
Mollie Jo Holman, a junior in the School of Communication, said she believes the new plan is a good step.
"I think it's great that Fenty is taking action in the AIDS awareness campaign, but I don't understand what took him so long," she said.
The publicity is a result of the rate at which D.C. residents contract HIV/AIDS - one in 20 people. D.C. had the highest number of new HIV/AIDS cases in 2006, with a rate of nearly 130 new cases per 100,000 people. The national HIV/AIDS rate was 14 new cases per 100,000 people, according to a November 2007 D.C. Department of Health fact sheet.
Preliminary statistics indicate the rate may have dropped to one in 50 this year, according to the mayor's office.
"There have been some setbacks, some things we could've done better in the past 20 months or so," Fenty told The Washington Post.
D.C.'s latest effort to make residents aware of HIV/AIDS is the largest and best funded in the city's history, with almost $1 million being allocated to the current plan, Beamon said.
However, the project is still in its earliest stages, as no plans or materials are currently available. Beamon said Fenty and his staff are not sure exactly when the publicity will begin or what the publicity will look like.
"This is something we're taking very seriously and focus group testing to be most effective to the residents of the District," she said.
Erin O'Neill, an assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences' School of Education, Teaching and Health, said she believes the primary reason for D.C.'s epidemic is a lack of effective education.
"Information needs to be more available to those less fortunate than us," she said.
People must also change certain types of behavior, such as sex practices and drugs habits, she said.
Beamon said the campaign does not intend to stigmatize those who have HIV/AIDS, but will instead attempt to inform D.C. residents about the virus and how to prevent it.
"You don't want to point the finger and say, 'you're the illness,'" she said. "It could potentially affect every resident who doesn't practice safety measures."
AU students can learn how to protect themselves with the resources available on campus.
The Student Health Center will give a free HIV test to anyone who comes in and requests one, according to Dan Bruey, director of the Student Health Center. However, he also noted that if a student requests a test during an office visit, the test itself is free, but he or she must still pay for the scheduled appointment.
"Anyone can get HIV," Bruey said. "Students should learn how they can get the virus and how they can protect themselves."
If a student is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and enrolled in the AU health insurance plan, the student would be covered according to the terms in his or her plan, he said.
Educational materials and condoms are distributed without charge at the Student Health Center and the Wellness Center, according to Bruey.
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