At least 3% of the residents of the District of Columbia are HIV positive. The District's report found a 22 percent increase in HIV and AIDS cases from the 12,428 reported at the end of 2006, touching every race and sex across population and neighborhoods, with an epidemic level in all but one of the eight wards.

More than 4 percent of Blacks in the city are known to have HIV, along with almost 2 percent of Latinos and 1.4 percent of Whites. More than three-quarters -- 76 percent -- of the HIV infected are Black, 70 percent are men and 70 percent are age 40 and older."

In all, almost 10,000 DC residents have died of HIV and AIDS related deaths. The Nation's Capital has an HIV infection rate and an AIDS death rate far above the national average and among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

DC Fights Back, Campaign to End AIDS, and allies demand that the DC Government, Health Department, and city leaders to draft a comprehensive plan to address the factors at the core of the epidemic, as well as massively increasing the resources dedicated to addressing the epidemic.

Press Conference Followed by a Protest

DATE: Friday, March 20, 2009
TIME: 12 pm ET
LOCATION: 350 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC