By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
For more than 50 years, Whitman-Walker Health has led the way, both in the Washington, D.C. community and nationwide, as an advocate for LGBTQ+ care, a first responder and a research center in efforts to discover breakthroughs in HIV treatment and prevention.
On Saturday, Dec. 7, Whitman-Walker will host the 38th Annual Walk and 5K to End HIV, held this year at Anacostia Park in Southeast Washington, D.C.
Dwight Venson, community engagement manager for Whitman-Walker, emphasized that the event, while extremely important to the health organization’s fundraising goals, represents its decades-long commitment to finding a cure for HIV and eradicating the stigma which continues for those living with the virus.
“As a Black gay man from Cleveland, Ohio – a city shaped by economic hardship and health disparities — I understand firsthand the impact of HIV on our communities,” Venson said. “Here in D.C., especially East of the River, those challenges persist.
“Our Walk to End HIV is more than an event — it’s an opportunity to stand together, raise awareness and fight for equitable access to care. By hosting this year’s walk at Anacostia Park, we’re emphasizing our commitment to addressing the stark disparities in HIV rates that affect communities East of the River. Our Walk is a movement — a declaration that we won’t stop fighting until HIV is no longer a barrier to health, dignity, or opportunity.”
Venson shared his perspective on the progress that Whitman-Walker has made in the battle to reduce HIV infections and related deaths since the organization’s founding in 1973 when it was then known as the Gay Men’s VD Clinic before being chartered as Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1978.
“As many people know, Whitman-Walker was founded 50 years ago, initially as the Gay Men’s Health Clinic to offer care and resources at the height of the AIDS epidemic,” he said. “Since then, we have grown tremendously, becoming the largest HIV care provider in the district.”
“And with that comes the responsibility of educating our patients about how to prevent getting HIV through such medications as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), an FDA-approved medication that is used for (HIV-negative) people to reduce your chance of getting HIV. Indeed, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by at least 99 percent when taken as prescribed,” said Venson.
“In addition … we have found success in a holistic approach, treating the mind, body and soul. I also want to emphasize that we are also reducing HIV infections through the work that our researchers are doing at the Whitman-Walker Institute, in their many research studies about HIV and AIDS,” he said.
Data illustrates challenges facing Black men in the District
In 2007, Washington, D.C. found itself still facing a severe HIV epidemic. In a city of only 500,000 adult residents, there were 1,311 newly reported HIV cases with 3.0 percent of adults and 6.3 percent of Black men living with HIV.
Whitman-Walker emerged on the forefront of local health organizations in response to the epidemic, making bold advancements in research and prevention initiatives to reduce the number of infections.
According to the DC Department of Health HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA) 2020 Annual HIV/AIDS Epidemiology and Surveillance Report: 12,408 DC residents or 1.8 percent of the population, were living with HIV; there were 282 newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2019 representing a 61 percent decrease from 2011; more than half of the people living with HIV in the District were older than 50; and the number of new HIV diagnoses due to injection drug use decreased by 99 percent from 2007. (See more at the DC Health website.)
The situation has since improved, according to D.C.’s Annual Epidemiology and Surveillance report (data thru December 2021, prepared by the Government of the District of Columbia, DC Health with key points in the surveillance that indicate the following:
11,904 current residents of the District of Columbia or 1.8 percent of the population are living with HIV; the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in the District was 230 cases in 2021, a decline of 83 percent from the peak of 1,374 cases in 2007, and a slight decrease from 2019 with 273 cases; and there were zero babies born with HIV in 2021.
However, Blacks and Latinos with HIV exceeded 1percent of their respective populations of existing cases, with Blacks disproportionately impacted at 2.9 percent.
The report also noted that in terms of the mode of transmission, Black MSM (men who have sex with men) and MSM/IDU (injection drug use) had the greatest proportion at 29 percent, followed by Black heterosexual men 8 percent, Black men other/RNI (risk not identified) 5 percent, Black men IDU 4 percent and Black women other/RNI 3.6 percent.
Venson said questions surrounding “HIV related deaths” are no longer within the context in which Whitman-Walker operates, as their goal it to “rapidly treat new infections, protect individuals at risk and educated the communities we serve.”
However, he said “it is a tragedy that HIV continues to be an issue in the Black community.”
“What we know to be true is that communities East of the River are predominantly Black areas that indeed have the highest rate of HIV infection, and that is a part of the reason why we just opened our (much larger) Max Robinson Center on the campus of St. Elizabeths in Congress Heights,” Venson said. “As an aside, Max Robinson, the first African-American broadcast network news anchor in the U.S. and a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists, is the namesake of Whitman-Walker’s health center. Max Robinson died of AIDS-related complications, which was only made public upon his death – as a means to educate the community.
“We want to eradicate HIV, but it’s still going to take some time, and community buy-in to end the stigma and stop the spread,” he said.
As for notions that HIV/AIDS is no longer a health threat in America, Venson was clear in his denial of such ideas.
“On the contrary, though modern medicine like PEP and PrEP have made significant strides to reduce the threat of HIV/AIDS, they continue to be a health threat to the community across the board,” he said.
“In fact, for that very reason, Whitman-Walker has started a concerted effort to gather Black and Brown Women for an open discussion in a salon setting about Beauty IN Wellness, sexual empowerment, ending stigma, eliminating health care barriers and educating about best safe sex practices. We call it Beauty Shop Conversations,” Venson said.
The event begins at 8 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, with registration, followed by warm-ups prior to the start of the run and walk portions of the fundraiser and a stage performance with entertainment from 9:30 a.m. until the end of the event at 11 a.m.
For more information, visit www.walktoendhiv.org/
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