Letter To Raise Awareness

Mr. Adrian Fenty

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 316

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mayor Fenty:

I am writing about the high HIV/AIDS rate in Washington DC.  Today, the number of people living with HIV is very high, especially in DC. African Americans also have the highest rate of people infected with this disease. A lot of people however do not or are afraid to get tested. So we do not quite know the exact number of infected people in this city. Being that Howard University and DC as a whole are predominantly black, it is important that we find a way to know the exact percentage of HIV/Aids and also control this growing rate of HIV in our nation’s capital.

The question we should ask ourselves is, what resources in and around DC can be used to combat the high percentage of HIV/AIDS infected people in the area? Statistics show that the number of people living with HIV now is higher than before. DC has the highest percentage of known HIV infected people in the nation with 4%. Although African Americans only make up 13% of people living in the united states, they made up nearly half (46%) of the HIV cases in 2007.  Also 81% of all AIDS cases in DC are among African- Americans.

There are  a few ways we can help combat this. First being that we should let people know about the options they have out there, let them know the risk of the disease and how to survive it. There are numerous HIV AIDS education programs and informational websites. Some that cater to DC and its surrounding metropolitan area are: the DC department of health website, the CDC website. Just to name a few. Second, we should let people know that there are places out there to help them keep up with treatment for example my school hospital-Howard University Hospital-, Washington free Clinic etc. Finally we should make some sort of law that requires students to get an HIV test before being admitted to school, just like how we all have to do TB test. The results will be confidential and will not affect if you should be enrolled or not. This way it helps us expand our knowledge on those living with the disease.

Thank you for taking time off your schedule to read my letter. I would really appreciate it if I can get to know your decision regarding this issue. This is a very important issue to a lot of people in our community and I am sure they will appreciate the least amount of work put in on this issue. Again thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Nestor Afungchwi