Considering Washington D.C. has the highest AIDS rate of any city in the United States, the deadly disease is much closer to home than many Americans may realize. "Our rates are higher than West Africa," said Shannon Hader, the district's HIV/AIDS administration director. And he’s right; according to a city report, three percent of Washington, D.C. residents are afflicted with HIV or AIDS. On the other hand, UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) estimates that in the West African nation of Senegal, only one percent of adults are living with HIV.Senegal established an aggressive task force designed to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in 1986, making it a model for AIDS prevention and treatment on the continent. In our effort to educate Americans and break negative stereotypes about Africa, The Africa Society believes that it is important to call attention to such success stories. Some African nations are unfairly stigmatized by HIV/AIDS as a result of the stories and images we are fed by the media, while the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the nation’s capital remains largely underreported. Despite these discrepancies, and despite the efforts of governmental and non-profit organizations alike, HIV/AIDS affects millions of people globally. Do your part. Get tested.
