Condom Distribution Program Public Health Analyst Position

The DC Condom Distribution Program in the DC Dept. of Health HIV/AIDS Administration aims to increase condom availability, education and safe sex materials in the District of Columbia. The goal is to reach 3 million free condoms per year. According to recent surveys, only about 1 in 4 residents use condoms on a semi-regular basis. Condoms are 95% effective in blocking transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

The Public Health Analyst will be a key member of the team to implement the program, including strategic planning to increase the number of venues in the city for condom distribution, developing new educational and promotional materials, coordinating procurement and supply chain management for condom purchases and distribution, analyzing budget trends, coordinating consultation with community partners, conducting site visits to community locations, developing and coordinating community promotional events, coordinating with other District agencies on condom availability, working with social marketing contractor on media and creative promotional material, and reviewing and updating agency web site.

Other tasks include the direction of other safe sex products: female condoms and dental dams. Special projects will cover youth-oriented condom supplies and distribution and researching and helping develop a new program on female condom distribution. For the position, there is a preference for someone having skills in the logistics of supplies, community outreach and familiarity with DC.

Specific responsibilities include:

Team member of the DC free condom and safe sex materials distribution program.

Liaison between HAA and distribution contractor, tracking orders and shipments, managing the database of condom program participants, monitoring condom partner quantities and conducting quality assurance checks.

Conduct community outreach to recruit traditional and non-traditional partners to maximize condom availability to reach the goals of the program.

Work with the HAA social marketing contractor and community partners on creative material and marketing strategies to change condom behavior.

Facilitate internal HAA team working on the program.

For more information about this position contact the HIV/AIDS Administration.

DC HIV/AIDS Administration Out of Condoms

The DC Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration long troubled Condom Distribution Program has hit yet another roadblock. They ran out of condoms.

A local HIV/AIDS organization that was told they could pick up thousands of condoms this week was told this morning that the HIV/AIDS Administration is cleaned out and will not have any condoms to distribute for at least a week.

The shortage raises questions about the overall distribution of condoms. On two separate occasions in 2006 and in 2007, the HIV/AIDS Administration pledged to distribute a million condoms. As a basis of comparison The New York City Health Department distributes anywhere from three to five million condoms each month.

But while the HIV/AIDS administration pledged on two separate occassions to distribute a million condoms it now seems pretty obvious based on the numbers that they never even had a million condoms to distribute.

Mayor Promises Continued Momentum as City Improves HIV/AIDS Report Card Grade

On Thursday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and DC Appleseed Executive Director Walter Jones released a third “report card” that assesses the government’s performance in 11 areas around HIV/AIDS in the District. As a follow-up to DC Appleseed’s August 2005 report, HIV/AIDS in the Nation’s Capital: Improving the District of Columbia’s Response to a Public Health Crisis, DC Appleseed has periodically issued report cards to monitor the District’s progress.

The District’s release of the 2007 HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report included the first-ever data on HIV in the District and updated AIDS statistics, earned the District an “A”. The report is also being praised as providing the city a critical tool that will be used for targeting a response.

“This is not a time to rest on our laurels and congratulate ourselves for our success,” said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “All progress is good progress, but we have much farther to go.”

The District’s Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) is developing and implementing strategies to meet the large scale of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Some of the District’s promising approaches include:

• Working to ensure that all medical providers are offering routine HIV testing and all hospitals have rapid testing available in their emergency rooms by 2009.
• Making local dollars immediately available for new comprehensive interventions as soon as Congress lifts the ban on syringe exchange services in the District.
• Increasing availability and education about condoms and planning to distribute three million by 2009.
• Reassuring District taxpayers that HAA has full accountability among its community providers with their services.
• Collecting accurate data on services and bringing in the technical expertise available from federal and other partners to work with providers.
• Working on interagency coordination with stronger agreements with sister District government agencies to mainstream HIV prevention, testing and linkages to care and treatment.
  Other areas that were highlighted include the commitment by top city leaders to reforms and the administrations continued HIV testing program and other HIV prevention services at the DC Jail.

Summary: DC Appleseed’s Third HIV/AIDS Report Card

	Grades From First Report Card	Grades From Second Report Card	Grades From Third Report Card
Leadership	B-	B-	B+
Interagency Coordination	N/A	C-	B-
HIV Surveillance & Data	Incomplete	B	A
Grants Management	B	B-	B
Quality Assurance	N/A	B-	B-
Rapid Testing	B	B	B+
Routine HIV Testing	C
Condom Distribution	D	D+	B
D.C. Public Schools	B-	C-	D
Syringe Exchange Services	B-	B-	B+
Substance Abuse Treatment	D+	D+	C+
HIV/AIDS among the Incarcerated	C+	B+	A
Website	B+	N/A	N/A

View the entire report card here.

Study Calls HIV in DC a Modern Epidemic

From the Washington Post: The first statistics ever amassed on HIV in the District, released today in a sweeping report, reveal "a modern epidemic" remarkable for its size, complexity and reach into all parts of the city.

The numbers most starkly illustrate HIV's impact on the African American community. More than 80 percent of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 were among black men, women and adolescents. Among women who tested positive, a rising percentage of local cases, nine of 10 were African American.

The 120-page report, which includes the city's first AIDS update since 2000, shows how a condition once considered a gay disease has moved into the general population. HIV was spread through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the District's cases detected in that time period, in contrast to the 25 percent of cases attributable to men having sex with men.

"It blows the stereotype out of the water," said Shannon Hader, who became head of the District's HIV/AIDS Administration in October. Increases by sex, age and ward over the past six years underscore her blunt conclusion that "HIV is everybody's disease here."

The new numbers are a statistical snapshot, not an estimate of the prevalence of infection in the District, which is nearly 60 percent black. Hader, an epidemiologist and public health physician who has worked on the disease in this country and internationally, said previous projections remain valid: One in 20 city residents is thought to have HIV and 1 in 50 residents to have AIDS, the advanced manifestation of the virus.

Almost 12,500 people in the District were known to have HIV or AIDS in 2006, according to the report. Figures suggest that the number of new HIV cases began declining in 2003, but the administration said the drop more likely reflects underreporting or delayed reporting. A quarter-century into the epidemic, the city's cumulative number of AIDS cases exceeds 17,400.

"HIV/AIDS in the District has become a modern epidemic with complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents," the report states.

District health officials have long been faulted for the lack of HIV information and lagging AIDS data. Not until forced by federal funding requirements did the health department start tracking HIV.

Until that began in 2000, critics said, neither the government nor organizations responding to the disease knew whether their dollars and efforts were effectively addressing the problem.

The report notes that its comprehensive picture "offers the District a new tool to help improve the scope, quality and distribution of care and treatment and prevention services."

HIV information is particularly valuable because it represents the most recent infections and can indicate changes in transmission patterns. It is mainly collected through the investigation of cases forwarded by laboratories and health-care providers.

The compilation signifies a major step forward for the HIV/AIDS agency, which has gone through repeated program and leadership upheavals in recent years. "For us, this is a milestone," said Hader, its third administrator since 2004.

A letter from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) accompanies the release: "We must take advantage of this information with the sense of urgency that this epidemic deserves."

The District's AIDS rate is the worst of any city in the country, nearly twice the rate in New York and more than four times the incidence in Detroit, and it has been climbing faster than that of many jurisdictions.

One explanation might be the high percentage of infected residents labeled "late testers," people who learn they have AIDS within a year of the HIV diagnosis. Although the proportion of adults and adolescents screened for HIV is greater in the city than nationally, the finding raises questions about the strategy of the District's "know your status" campaign.

People who learn of their infection late face serious consequences. By the time symptoms arise or infections occur, their immune systems have suffered considerable damage. They face increased medical costs and death rates.

More than two-thirds of local AIDS cases fell into this category during the past decade, according to the report, compared with 39 percent of cases in the United States. "I think that's dramatic information for our care and treatment providers," Hader said.

No longer is HIV a crisis primarily among younger adults. Starting in 2004, the number of new HIV cases among men and women ages 40 to 49 outpaced every other age group in the city.

But the data made public today expose an alarming dimension of pediatric HIV. Each of the three dozen District children to test positive in the past five years was infected during birth.

"This is a line that should be zero," said Hader, who is pushing for routine HIV testing during pregnancy, quick-results oral swabs during labor and "fast tracking" of the antiretroviral drugs that can prevent transmission during delivery.
The administration said it wants to use the report to begin asking and answering, "What next?" Given the scope of HIV and AIDS in the District, health leaders say they can't focus on just one aspect of the disease or one at-risk group.
"We don't have the luxury of only picking one," Hader said. "We have the imperative to do it all."

HIV/AIDS Administration Seeks Input on New Directory

MetroWeekly reports that the Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) is currently preparing an updated version of its free ''Directory of HIV/AIDS Services in the District of Columbia,'' first released in May of this year, to include more agencies that provide HIV/AIDS-related services. read more here

HIV/AIDS Administration Surveillance Report Delayed

The HIV/AIDS Administration 2001-2006 Surveillance Report that was scheduled to be released this month has been delayed once again. This can only be described as yet another setback for the HIV/AIDS Administration, whose performance has been questioned on a variety of fronts including condom distribution, HIV testing, and program oversight.

The Surveillance report provides an overview of the HIV epidemic in the city and helps us better understand where new HIV cases are occurring in the city, which populations are most affected, and what modes of transmission are most prevalent. I was looking forward to having the report this month, before AIDS Walk Washington, one of the most visible HIV/AIDS events in the city, so that we could accurately give information about HIV rates in DC. That's not going to happen.

The HIV/AIDS Administration now says we can look for the report before the end of October. This will give Dr. Shannon Hader, the new Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration, and opportunity to review the report before it is released (Hader does not actually start work until mid-October).

In light of this development, The October ACTION Lunch with Tiffany West-Ojo from the HIV/AIDS Administration to present the Surveillance Data has been rescheduled for November 15th. click here for more information about this event.

Welcome Dr. Shannon Hader

Send your welcome message to Dr. Shannon Hader, the new Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration, at www.fighthivindc.org/welcome.

The Washington Blade reports that Dr. Shannon Hader has been selected to be the new Director of the DC HIV/AIDS Administration. The position has been vacant since January when Mayor Adrian Fenty took office and chose not to keep Dr. Marsha Martin in the position. Since January, Director of the Department of Health Gregg Pane has served as Interim Director, juggling this role with his other responsibilities.

Here's what google tells us about Dr. Hader ...... Dr. Shannon Hader earned an M.D. at Columbia University and trained in internal medicine and pediatrics at Duke University Medical School and in infectious diseases at Emory University Hospitals.

According to this biography of Dr. Hader, In 2001 she took a job as an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hader went on to serve as the Director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) office in Zimbabwe. Dr. Hader has served as an adjunct clinical faculty member at Emory University School of Medicine. An accomplished researcher, she has worked on numerous HIV/AIDS research studies.(If you want to search for articles she's published search "Hader, SL").

She was licensed to practice medicine in Atlanta Georgia, but more recently was licensed in Dulles, Virginia.

That's all I found for now, I'm sure we'll learn more about Dr. Hader in the weeks and months ahead. Check out the Washington Blade article for more.

Fight HIV in DC has a new mini-site where you can send your own welcome message to Dr. Hader. Check out www.fighthivindc.org/welcome. You can post your own welcome message to Dr. Hader on the site by sending an e-mail to welcome@fighthivindc.org. All welcome messages will be posted live to the site and will be delivered to Dr. Hader.

Send your welcome message to Dr. Shannon Hader, the new Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration, at www.fighthivindc.org/welcome.

High Number of HIV Cases Found Among Female Inmates in Washington, D.C.

A high number of HIV cases has been detected among female inmates in the Washington, D.C., jail, according to data released recently by the district Department of Health as part of a summary of its six-month campaign encouraging district residents to be tested for HIV, the Washington Post reports (Levine, Washington Post, 8/2).

District health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in June 2006 launched the campaign -- titled "Come Together D.C., Get Screened for HIV" -- which emphasized the importance of HIV testing. The campaign aimed to reach 400,000 men, women and children ages 14 to 84 in the district. According to statistics presented at the Mayor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which convened for the first time in June 2006, up to 25,000 people, or more than 4% of all residents, in the district might be HIV-positive. District health officials ordered 80,000 rapid HIV tests for the campaign, which organizers planned to distribute at no cost to hospital emergency departments, private physician offices, community health programs, detoxification and substance use centers, and sexually transmitted infection treatment clinics (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/5). According to the Post, the jail was "ahead of city health officials' push to make HIV testing a routine part of most medical screenings."

According to the data, 3,216 inmates were tested over a six-month period, 607 of whom were women. The report found that 7.3% of the women tested positive for HIV, compared with 2.7% of the men. Devon Brown, director of the district's Department of Corrections, said he believes the figures are representative of the nearly 2,000 women who are processed annually at the jail. Brown added that commercial sex work and injection drug use -- which often place people at an increased risk of HIV -- are the most common charges among female inmates. The report also found that inmates ages 45 and older had the highest rate of HIV by age, with 4.8% of all inmates in that age range testing positive for HIV.

According to officials, fighting the spread of HIV in the district's jail is essential to citywide efforts because nine out of 10 inmates are released within 30 days. The district's jail is one of a few facilities nationwide that automatically tests for HIV upon entry and release unless an inmate refuses to receive a test. According to district officials, fewer than 10% of inmates refuse a test. The not-for-profit group Unity Health Care provides treatment for inmates who test positive for the virus, the Post reports.

A December 2006 report by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice praised the Department of Corrections' approach to testing inmates but said the department should provide counseling and HIV/AIDS education for all inmates, regardless of their HIV status, the Post reports. According to Brown, such efforts have been implemented, beginning with HIV-themed programs played on the jail's television system. "You literally have a captive audience," he said, adding that women pay closer attention to the programs than men (Washington Post, 8/2). reprinted from Kaiser Daily

Vincent Gray Calls for Recommitment to HIV/AIDS in DC

At the dedication of a new tribute to local HIV caregivers, City Council Chairman Vincent Gray called on the DC community to recommit itself in the fight against HIV in DC. Vincent Gray told WTOP: "We know on the eastern end of this city we are seeing a spread of the virus in ways we haven't seen before. I.V. drug use is now one of the most prevalent forms of transmission."

While Vincent Gray's comments are welcome, active leadership in fighthing the HIV/AIDS epidemic is what is needed most. Specifically:

1. Mayor Fenty is the only Mayor since the beginning of the epidemic who has never had a full time director of the HIV/AIDS Administration. We've been waiting six months for a new director. A new Director is desperately needed.

2. While we are still waiting for a final report from the Health Department on their 'Come Together DC Testing Initiative', we know that the HIV/AIDS Administration failed to meet their goals around HIV Testing in the District.

3. Similarly, the HIV/AIDS Administration has failed to meet their goals around condom distribution.

4. The HIV/AIDS Adminstration is not even keeping an accurate count of services provided to people living with HIV due to ongoing problems with their database.

I hope that Chairman Vincent Gray will be a leader in addressing these issues.

Between Promise and Performance: Leadership

Promise & Performance:
Leadership | Condom Distribution | HIV Testing | X-Pres

Leadership

The District of Columbia still does not have a Director for the HIV/AIDS Administration. For six months now, the HIV/AIDS Administration has been a ship without a captain. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced at the beginning of his term, that he would not reappoint Marsha Martin to the position. At that time, Gregg Pane, head of the Department of Health, appointed himself as interim leader.

Gregg Pane continues to split his time between his responsibilities as the head of the Department of Health and as the interim leader of the HIV/AIDS Administration. Both Pane and Fenty have referred to HIV/AIDS as the top health priority in the District, yet for six months now, we have settled for part-time leadership.

The Promise: On February 9th, the Washington Blade reported that: "he (Gregg Pane) said he and Fenty would name a new director of the administration in 30 to 60 days after Pane 'gets to the bottom' of what AIDS activists and health advocacy groups have said has been a problem-plagued agency for years."

The Performance: Gregg Pane failed to make good on this statement. Now, five months later, we are still waiting for a new Director. Adrian Fenty now bears the awkward distinction of being the only Mayor of DC without a full time Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration since the beginning of the epidemic.

Washington Post Article on 'New' Testing Initiative

On National HIV Testing Day Mayor Adrian Fenty and DOH head Greg Pane announced a new HIV testing plan without offering any additional information about the outcome of the last HIV testing plan.

The Washington Post reports:

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and city health director Gregg A. Pane used National HIV Testing Day to announce the effort, which aims to boost by 25 percent the number of young people who know their HIV status. It will be one of several new undertakings, all of which target some of the city's most at-risk populations, and could force the often-criticized school system to implement a comprehensive, up-to-date HIV/AIDS curriculum.

While the focus on young people is encouraging, and the reference to comprehensive sexuality education is much needed, I still find myself wondering if we accomplished any of the goals we set with the last HIV testing plan. Where is the accountability? Even after the Washington Post filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to get this information, we are still in the dark.

The biggest challenge the HIV/AIDS Administration faces is not setting goals, it is meeting them. As I have been blogging this week, the challenge is getting from promises to performance. If there is no accountability for accomplishing the last plan, it's hard to imagine anyone will be held accountable for accomplishing this one.

While I would like to be optimistic, I can't help but wonder how this plan is any different from all the other plans that have fallen by the wayside.

Between Promise & Performance: Testing

Promise & Performance:
Leadership | Condom Distribution | HIV Testing | X-Pres

HIV Testing & Counseling

HIV testing is crucial in the District of Columbia. You can't treat HIV if you don't know you have it. One of the reasons DC has the highest HIV death rate, is that many folks don't get tested for HIV until years after they have become positive. They show up at a clinic or an emergency room and their HIV has progressed beyond the point at which current medications can be most effective.

The Promise: Former Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) Director Marsha Martin set the ambitious goal of having all DC residents tested for HIV between June 27th, 2006 and December 31st, 2006. This was based in part on the CDC's Revised Recommendations for HIV testing. Since that time HAA has failed to set any specific, measurable goals on HIV testing in the District.

The Performance: While HIV testing in the District did increase between June 27th, 2006 and December 31st, 2006, HAA did not come anywhere close to the ambitious goal of having everyone in DC know their HIV status. To make matters worse, many of the expensive HIV testing kits that were ordered had to be given away before their expiration or were simply thrown out.

Further, a number of experts are now challenging the revised CDC recommendations, the basis upon which this campaign is built, arguing that targetted HIV testing is much more effective than the CDC's 'mass testing' initiative.

I believe that in DC we need both a general testing campaign and smart, targetted HIV testing initiatives like the one conducted at DC Black Pride.

HAA's testing campaign failed to meet it's goal. Which means, quite frankly, that there are people out there in DC who won't find out their HIV status until it's too late. We will continue to have the highest HIV death rate until we can get our residents tested and into treatment sooner.

We desperately need leadership on this issue. HAA needs to set specific and measurable HIV testing goals and meet them.

Between Promise & Performance: X-Pres

Promise & Performance:
Leadership | Condom Distribution | HIV Testing | X-Pres

X-Pres

One of the most important things the DC Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) does is to make sure that the people living with HIV in DC get the services they need. In order to do that, HAA needs to make sure that the agencies and organizations they give money to actually provide the services they say they are providing. HAA is supposed to accomplish this through site visits, monthly reports, and by tracking the data entered into X-Pres. X-Pres is a computer program that (if it is working) allows organizations that receive HAA funds to enter information about their clients and the services they are providing.

The Promise: Over the years HAA has spent millions on a computer system that is supposed to accurately track the services being provided to people living with HIV/AIDS in the District.

The Performance: X-Pres is currently in a state of failure.

Last month I asked you to send me stories about your experience with X-pres and boy, did you. Here is what I learned.

• Agencies are not entering data into X-Pres because they have folks who have been waiting months to get trained. Those who have received training in the past year were very critical of the training they received.
• Agencies are not entering data into X-Pres because they have been waiting (in some cases six months or longer) for usable user-id's and passwords
• Most agencies that can enter data are not entering accurate information because they have one or more grant numbers that haven't been updated in the X-Pres system. So there is NO way that you can tell whether or not an agency is providing services under current HAA grants

The state of this system is shameful. What is more shameful, however, is that these problems have been brought to the attention of HAA time and time again; month after month; to no avail. I personally sent an e-mail back in May, hoping that the situation could be fixed and it wouldn't be necessary to blog about this. I'm still waiting to here back.

With so many problems with X-pres it is impossible to produce any useable data.

What are the demographics of people living with HIV who access services in the District? Which local AIDS Service Organizations did not meet their goals in providing service last month? Are women less likely than men to access health services in DC? How many people living with HIV accessed any services at all in the past three months?

If X-pres was working properly, getting this kind of data pulled would be a simple task, and it would be incredibly useful information for HAA and for our Ryan White Planning Council.

Once again, however, this is not the case.

November ACTION Lunch: DC 2001-2006 HIV Surveillance Report

This event was originally scheduled for October 11th. Due to a delay in the release of the surveillance data by the HIV/AIDS Administration, this lunch has been rescheduled for November 15th

Please join us for the NOVEMBER ACTION Lunch. Tiffany West-Ojo, MPH, MSPH, will be presenting the DC 2001-2006 HIV Surveillance Report. Tiffany serves as the Interim Bureau Chief, Bureau of Surveillance and Epidemiology at the HIV/AIDS Administration.

Tiffany will provide us with detailed look at this important new information about HIV and AIDS cases in the District of Columbia, and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions.

This lunch takes place Thursday November 15th at 1:00 PM at the DC CARE Consortium, 1156 15th St, NW Suite 500. To RSVP for this presenation click here.

To download the flyer for this event, click here.

Outcome Document from Mayor's Summit on HIV/AIDS

Those of us who attended the Mayor's Summit on HIV/AIDS received the outcome documents in the mail last week. If you didn't have a chance to participate, click here to download the outcome documents and see what we talked about.

Washington Post Article on HIV Testing in DC

From Kaiser Daily: Conducting routine HIV tests in hospital emergency departments was shown to be cost effective and "welcomed" by many patients, according to a study conducted by researchers at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, HealthDay News/Washington Post reports. For the study, Jeremy Brown, research director at GWU's emergency medicine department, and colleagues offered rapid HIV tests to 4,000 ED patients, 2,500 of whom agreed to be tested. The study found that 1% of the patients who agreed to be tested, or 26 people, had preliminary positive results for HIV.

According to HealthDay News/Post, the Washington, D.C., Department of Health provided the rapid screening kits at no cost, and the researchers administered the tests and analyzed the data. Brown said that the approach would not be feasible in the long term but added that the study's findings suggest some models for ongoing HIV testing programs in EDs. The cost per preliminary positive result was about $1,700, and the cost per confirmed HIV case was about $4,900 -- lower than other early detection methods -- such as the nucleic acid amplification testing method, which costs $17,000 per case -- Brown said. "Washington, D.C., has one of the highest AIDS case prevalence rates in the United States, and our results suggest that ED HIV screening in this high prevalence area is well accepted by patients," Brown added. The study was scheduled to be released Thursday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, HealthDay News/Post reports (HealthDay News/Washington Post, 5/16).

Tell me your X-pres X-periences.

Oh X-pres, the bane of my existence. This post is going out to the folks who work at local AIDS service organizations. If that's not you, please feel free to ignore.

If you are having problems working with X-pres, I want to hear from you! This includes: not having received training on X-pres for an extended period of time, not having a current X-pres password, not having accurate and current grant numbers listed when you enter X-pres data, and of course not having your requests for X-pres technical assistance answered.

Send your experiences with X-press to xpresyourself@fighthivindc.org. We won't be able to fix the problems until they are properly documented.

Six Questions for Mayor Adrian Fenty

Mayor Adrian Fenty will be making an appearance at the Gertrude Stein Democrats meeting Monday May 14th. Mayor Fenty will be discussing several issues of relevance to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, which is likely to include HIV/AIDS. I will be looking specifically for an update on progress made on the HIV/AIDS front since the Mayor’s HIV/AIDS Summit last month.

While many of the issues raised at the summit are long-standing problems that will require long-term solutions, there are also several short-term issues that require immediate action. The most pressing questions are:

1. When can we expect the appointment of a full-time director of the HIV/AIDS Administration?

2. What will the Mayor’s Task Force on HIV/AIDS look like under the Fenty administration and when can we expect this task force to be operational?

3. What is the status of the outcome document from the Mayor’s Summit on HIV/AIDS, and when will this document be made available? What are the next steps to ensure that the recommendations from the summit are implemented.

4. During the summit, Mayor Fenty made a pledge to Raymond Blanks to come up with a plan for better communication between the Mayor’s Task Force on HIV/AIDS, the HIV Community Planning Group, the Ryan White Planning Council, the HIV/AIDS Admministration, and the Mayor’s office. Mayor Fenty said we could expect to see a plan in the next 60-90 days. What progress has been made in this area?

5. Given the overwhelming evidence that federally funded abstinence-only-until-heterosexual-marriage programs have no benefit and are damaging to LGBT youth , is the Mayor committed to join with the states who have rejected this federal funding? Given the Mayor’s new authority in DC Public Schools, how can we work together to assure that every student in DC receives comprehensive sex education?

6. How is the Department of Health responding to the new data on circumcision as an HIV prevention measure? How can we guarantee that men who want this procedure receive it regardless of whether or not it is covered by their health insurance or they can afford it.

I hope to be at the meeting on May 14th, but it depends on how much work remains planning for the Speakout on the 17th, and HIV Vaccine Awareness Day on the 18th.

I encourage you to attend this meeting and to print out these questions and take them with you. Let's make sure they all get asked and answered.

Mayor's Summit on HIV/AIDS

I will post my thoughts on the summit tomorrow hopefully. In the meantime, here is a review of the Post Article from Kaiser

Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty on Wednesday pledged to "put an end to [the] crisis" of HIV/AIDS in the district, although he did not commit to declaring a state of emergency based on the number of cases in the city, the Washington Post reports. Fenty held Wednesday's summit -- which was attended by more than 150 health experts, service providers and advocates -- as part of his action plan for his first 100 days in office.

Fenty said that within one week, district agencies involved with HIV/AIDS will be called on to work together and that he likely soon will select a new director for the city's Administration for HIV Policy and Programs. "This is the No. 1 (public health) priority of this government," Fenty said. Also at the summit, Department of Health Director Gregg Pane said that about 48,000 people in 2006 received HIV tests as part of the district's citywide testing campaign (Levine, Washington Post, 4/5). District health officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in June 2006 launched the campaign, titled "Come Together D.C., Get Screened for HIV," which emphasizes the importance of HIV testing. The campaign aimed to reach 400,000 men, women and children ages 14 to 84 in the district. According to statistics presented at the Mayor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which convened for the first time in June 2006, up to 25,000 people, or more than 4% of all residents, in the district might be HIV-positive. District health officials ordered 80,000 rapid HIV tests for the campaign, which organizers planned to distribute at no cost to hospital emergency departments, private physician offices, community health programs, detoxification and substance use centers, and sexually transmitted infection treatment clinics (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/18/06).

According to Pane, the number of people screened in 2006 is the most recorded in a single year and a 75% increase compared with 2005. Half of people screened were tested at private medical facilities and more than one-third were tested in clinics or hospitals. Men and women in their mid-30s to mid-40s were the most likely to receive tests, while older teenagers and young adults were the least likely to receive tests, according to the Post. The campaign did not attain its goal of reaching the several hundred thousand residents in its targeted population, and Pane added that data collected at testing sites were not complete enough to provide the demographic information needed to develop the most effective prevention and treatment plans. According to the Post, officials are examining data to determine how many new HIV cases were identified among district residents who did not receive tests in more skewed settings, such as the city's prison facility. The district estimates that 17,000 to 23,000 people in the city are living with HIV, but "years of surveillance shortfalls mean that data-driven calculations are unavailable," the Post reports. According to Pane, 5,179 new AIDS cases were reported locally between 2001 and 2006 (Washington Post, 4/5).

HIV Testing & Vaccine Research: Letter to Dr. Gregg Pane

Earlier this week I posted on the issues around HIV vaccine study volunteers and HIV testing in the district. To update everyone, members of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort (CAVE) have submitted this letter to Dr. Gregg Pane at the Department of Health.

I'm pretty confident that the necessary information can be easily integrated into current training for folks who so HIV testing in the district. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, read more about this issue and other information about HIV Vaccine Research at the CAVE website: www.aidsvaccine.org.

Articles on DOH/HAA Restructuring

There have been several recent articles about the restructuring of the HIV/AIDS Administration at the Department of Health. As most of you know, Gregg Pane, who is the head of the Department of Health, has also appointed himself as the interim Director of HAA. In this Washington Blade Article, Pane clarifies that they do plan to hire a director in the next 30-60 days.

Articles have also appeared in The Examiner, the NBC 4 Website, and of course I'm quoted in this article that appears in Metro Weekly, where they referenced previous blog posts about Gregg Pane.

I've received a lot of positive feedback from the Metro Weekly article, and a little negative feedback. Let me just say this about the article. When it comes to HIV/AIDS, DC ranks as one of the worst cities in the country, if not the world. Things are not going well, and to say otherwise at this point, is unconscionable. As long as I know in my heart that we can do better, I will be the guy in the back of the room standing up and saying those very words as loud as I can. Why? Because we can do better.

I hope those of you who believe that will join the Metro DC Campaign to End AIDS. Together, we can make a difference.

Thirty Three Days and Counting. Where's our AIDS Czar?

A while back in a previous post, I asked the question, Does that leave us with Gregg Pane (pictured left) as our new AIDS Czar/DOH head?.

To clarify, that was a rhetorical question and the answer is NO! Because obviously nobody can be the head of the Department of Health and a full time AIDS Czar simultaneously.

I regret the wording, however, because I see the Examiner has set the dangerous precedent of referring to Gregg Pane as the AIDS Czar in a recent article. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let me make a couple points about this article that need to be said.

First, as head of the Department of Health, Gregg Pane has been the man ultimately responsible for the operations of the HIV/AIDS Administration ever since he was first appointed as Acting Director in August of 2004. Nothing has changed in this regard.

Second, nobody can simultaneously hold two full-time jobs. Gregg Pane simply can't be both a full time head of the DOH and a full time AIDS Czar. He needs to hire a full time, competent and qualified individual to assume leadership of the HIV/AIDS Administration. He simply is not going to be able to accomplish part-time what others have failed to accomplish full-time.

Third, the goals Pane has set for the HIV/AIDS Administration are nothing new. In fact, they are terribly similar to many of the goals laid out by Marsha Martin. We had a previous goal of distributing a million condoms, which we did not meet (Pane's new goal is lowered to 250,000). We had a previous goal for HIV testing which we did not meet.

The challenge is not setting goals, the challenge is in actually accomplishing them; a view that was eloquently stated by Raymond Blanks in his op-ed Between Promises and Performance.

I seriously doubt we can do this without a full time, dedicated Director for the HIV/AIDS Administration. Thirty three days and counting. Where's our AIDS Czar?

NAPWA Hiring Local Advocates for People Living with HIV

The National Association of People with AIDS has received funding from the DC HIV/AIDS Administration (previously known as AHPP, they've changed their name again!) to create a Consumer Advocacy Project for people living with HIV/AIDS in our Title 1 area. Interested? Here's the job description:

"Consumer Advocates work as an extension of NAPWA professional staff to provide outreach to the Washington DC Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) PLWH/A community to help consumers access and maintain Title I services. Consumer Advocates participate in workshops, meetings, events and education for HIV/AIDS services. Duties associated with the position include presenting Title I program related information to HIV + persons across the metropolitan area, including the consumer grievance process, assisting at health fairs/events, assisting with office work, along with other duties as they arise during the Consumer Advocacy Project. Comprehensive training will be provided to familiarize consumer advocates with the Ryan White services available to PLWH/A in the DC EMA, outreach materials, and the consumer grievance resolution process

Consumer Advocates are paid, hourly stipend positions, trained and supervised by NAPWA professional staff. Consumer advocates will report to the Director of Community Affairs, the Community Affairs Associate, or designated NAPWA Staff."

To read the entire job description click here

To download the application click here

Twenty Days and Counting

It has been 20 days since Mayor Fenty declined to reappoint Marsha Martin as Director of AHPP and still no word on a replacement. Nada. Zip.

It makes me wonder whether or not the plan to restructure the Department of Health (as mentioned in Fenty's 100 Day Plan) includes eliminating the position all-together.

Does that leave us with Gregg Pane (pictured left) as our new AIDS Czar/DOH head? I'm not convinced that Gregg Pane is focusing on HIV/AIDS. And I'm definitely not convinced that we are better off now (without a director) than we were when Marsha Martin was in office.

Mayor Fenty, I thought HIV/AIDS was a top priority for your administration. What's going on?

Twenty Days and counting. I suggested at the last Campaign to End AIDS Metro DC meeting that if the silence continues for 99 more days, we should plan a protest on day 100. I hope something happens soon, but if not, you know where I'll be on April 13th.

Gregg Pane off to a Rocky Start

When Adrian Fenty announced that he would not reappoint Marsha Martin to head AHPP, I was left with the impression that DOH chief Greg Payne was going to be closely working with AHPP until a new Director is hired. In fact the Blade went so far as to run the headline Health chief assumes control of AIDS office.

We got two indications last week however, that Greg Payne is not going to be quite as "hands on" as expected.

First, he was a no-show at last week's HIV Community Planning Group Meeting. The previous month, Marsha Martin had come on board as the co-chair of this planning body. Personally, I think his presence at the meeting would have left a strong signal that we are not going to be left hanging in the wind while there is no director in at AHPP. And who did they choose to replace Marsha Martin? Marie Sansone. The woman who is already so swamped with work that she can't keep track of AIDS cases in the District. I don't mean to be unkind to Sansone. I just believe giving her additional responsibilities means it's going to take even longer to get those AIDS cases counted.

Secondly, Greg Payne is holding up approval of the new HIV Community Planning Group Members. Without approval of the new member,s the CPG is barely able to function (they couldn't get a quorom until 20 minutes into the meeting). To fully understand the frustration, you have to understand these community volunteers first applied to serve on the CPG in August of 2006. They have been waiting more than six months now to be approved. This is completely unreasonable. Granted, not all the delay can be attributed to Payne. But the delays make waiting an extra month or two for his approval all the more frustrating.

We either need Greg Payne to step up, or we need a new Director of AHPP as soon as possible. Since hiring a new Director of AHPP was not included in Fenty's 100 Day Plan, I can't help but be concerned.

Adrian Fenty's First 100 Days

Adrian Fenty has released his plan for his first 100 days in office. The plan, which includes 200 action items, can be downloaded from the DC Government Website.

There are a few things I find interesting. First, among the action items are plans to hire several permanent staff members (Director of Dep of Human Services, Director of the Office on Aging, Director for the Department of Disability Services, Director of the Department of Disability Services). The plan does not state, however, whether or not Fenty will hire a new Director for the Administration for HIV Policy and Programs in his first 100 days. This is one action item which is urgently needed.

Also, the plan includes a cryptic goal, "Reorganize DOH to consolidate administrations and improve public health functions" which Fenty plans to do in the next 30 days." I can't help but wonder, what administrations are going to be consolidated in the next 30 days, and why didn't he just come out and tell us? I would think it's unlikely he's referring to the Administration for HIV Policy and Programs, but you never know.

Regarding the other goals on HIV/AIDS, most of the action items are items DC is either already working on, or the action item is worded so broadly (i.e. "exploring") that you don't know if there will be an actual outcome.

Here are some snippets from the plan, but you really should read the whole thing for yourself.

"Preventing of sexually transmitted diseases through exploring implementation of needle exchange programs and broader condom accesibility (100 days)"

"support mental health and wellness as well as offer HIV/AIDS prevention services through DMH provider agencies (100 days)"

"Coordinate with medical service providers, especially those part of the Medicaid/Alliance safety net, to implement routine HIV testing for patients ages 14+ and up (100 days)." (isn't that what AHPP's been doing for the past year?)

"Develop an East-of-the-River HIV/AIDS response capacity-building initiative (1st year)"

"Increase community messages on testing and prevention of HIV/AIDS and explore establishing a medical home for low income residents testing positive (1st year)"

Marsha Martin to leave DC Administration for HIV Policy & Programs

Marsha Martin, Director of the DC The Administration for HIV Policy and Programs, will be leaving that position. In a farewell e-mail, Martin wrote "As a Williams appointee, it is my time to leave the government and I do so with great respect and admiration for this agency. Together, you have changed and re-ignited the conversation about the HIV epidemic in Washington, DC."

Is anyone else out there as suprised as I am at this news?

During her tenure, AHPP launched an ambitious HIV screening program for the district. The program fell far short of it's goals, and of the 80,000 rapid HIV test kits that were purchased, the majority were either given away or expired without being used. Still, 20,000 were tested for HIV in a five month period which is a significant increase (twice that of an average year).

AHPP appeared to be steadily improving under Martin, and new staff members brought on board by Martin (some very recently) offer a lot of hope for the future. Unfortunately, some problems that plagued the office did continue. HIV/AIDS Surveilance continues to be a major problem. And a recent audit criticized AHPP's monitoring of local HIV/AIDS service organizations.

Yes, there are still many things that need to be fixed at AHPP. That said, I'm sad to see Marsha Martin leave. I felt like under her leadership we were moving in the right direction.

Finding a new Director of AHPP could take several weeks, or it could take several months. Once we do find a new director, there is no guarantee that the staff members Marsha Martin brought on board will want to remain under new leadership.

The thought of going several weeks or several months without a strong leader at AHPP terrifies me. We simply don't have that much time to spare.

Update: Losing Track of AIDS Cases in DC

A number of folks on the web are talking about the latest article by Jose Vargas for the Post, An Overwhelmed D.C. Agency Loses Count of AIDS Cases.

Blogger Infinite Present writes: "So how can we justify the fact that the nation's capital, the leader in HIV rates, continues to be completely incompetent in assessing the spread of infection through its various populations? I am scared to live in a world where so little is being done to control a 25-year old epidemic that is ravaging a segregated and at-risk population, a negligence rife with racial, sexual, and homophobic implications."

The article was also picked up on The Circumlocutor and Frozen Tropics.

An Overwhelmed D.C. Agency Loses Count of AIDS Cases

From the Washington Post: In late August, barely a month into her new job, Marie Sansone of the District's AIDS agency was astounded by what she discovered: five boxes of unexamined HIV and AIDS cases that had not been touched in more than a year.

In the boxes were records of 2,000 to 3,000 cases that had yet to be entered in the city's database. The records are mostly from 2004 and 2005, some from 2003. Who's getting sicker, who needs treatment, who died. All boxed up.

"Oh, my goodness," Sansone, surveillance chief for the city's Administration for HIV Policy and Programs (AHPP), remembers saying.

"We were flabbergasted, just flabbergasted," adds Sansone's boss, AHPP Director Marsha Martin.

That information is critical to managing a spreading epidemic, now in its 25th year. Under guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AHPP is required to collect, maintain and distribute statistics on the disease, which dozens of community-based organizations depend on for their prevention and treatment programs.

City officials acknowledge that the District is behind in tracking new cases of HIV, as well as in reporting the number of deaths from AIDS complications.

Continue Reading this article in the Washington Post:

Should Homophobic Churches Receive DC HIV/AIDS Funds?

A few months ago I included information about the The Union Temple Baptist Church Huggin’ HIV/AIDS Ministry & Akoma Project on this website. In the brochure which I republished, the Union Temple Baptist Church states: "For over thirty years, the Union Temple Baptist Church has provided unbiased and reassuring services to populations who have been rejected and ostracized by society."

After hearing excerpts from a sermon by Reverend Willie Wilson of the Union Temple Baptist Church I'm not so sure that that is true.

Rev. Wilson delivered what is hands down the most mean-spirited homophobic sermon I've ever heard in my life. Don't take my word for it, click here to listen to excerpts from the sermon and decide for yourself.

Which leads me to ask the obvious question. How is it that a homophobic minister can wind up with so much federal and DC HIV/AIDS Dollars?

We know that from our most recent figures (DC AHPP Surveilance and Epidemiology Division: March 2006) approximately 40% of DC residents living with HIV/AIDS are men who have sex with men, the majority of which are African American men who have sex with men. Nationally, one recent study, suggests that as many as 46% of black gay men are HIV positive.

It's important that churches that primarily serve the African American community in DC be part of the fight against HIV/AIDS, and many are deeply involved and contributing much.

In this case, however, I question whether it's appropriate to use federal and local HIV/AIDS resources to fund an agency which may not be safe or welcoming to gay men.

(If you can provide me with any additional information, please do so.)

Condom Week Part 3: AHPP Distributes Condoms Online

The Administration for HIV Policy & Programs (AHPP) is moving closer to it's goal of distributing a million condoms in the District of Columbia. AHPP has launched an online condom distribution program. Their website states:This program is intended to promote, facilitate and simplify the way that condoms are distributed.Any organization can request condoms through this program. Once the online form is completed, arrangements will be made for a representative from your organization to pick up the condoms for distribution.

It's a good start, but it's not really what I expected when AHPP announced the plan back in October. For starters, they are not really distributing the condoms, but rather they are making them available for organizations to pick up. Also, since this effort relies on local organizations to do the distribution, it's quite possible there are some parts of town that will have condoms available, and other parts of town that won't. Finally, the website says 'any organization' but doesn't make it clear whether or not businesses like restaurants, clubs, and bars can also request condoms to make available to their patrons. We'll see how this program develops.

In the meantime, if you work for a local organization, make sure to Order condoms at the AHPP website today.

Blade Article on Ryan White Care Act Authorization

Today's Washington Blade has a story entitled: Ryan White approval spares D.C. $4 million cut in AIDS budget.

What the story got right: This version is better for DC because it phases in named based reporting, and doesn't penalize places like DC that haven't yet gotten named base reporting up and running.

What the story got wrong: When Lou writes "The district’s total AIDS budget for fiscal year 2007 comes to $82 million" he doesn't tell you that a hefty chunk of that money goes right back out to other states. The money we get from Ryan White Title I is for our EMA, or Eligible Metropolitan Area, which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and even West Virginia. So this may be AHPP's budget, but the amount that actually get's spent in the district is far less.

What the story didn't tell you: It's nice that we will be able to avoid a $4 million dollar cut, but let's be honest. There have been many years when we haven't been able to spend all the money we receive for HIV/AIDS in the District. I don't think anybody would be suprised if AHPP had a couple million dollars left over at the end of this year. Ours is not a problem of money, ours is a problem of accountability. Four million dollars does not amount to a hill of beans if we don't spend it wisely.

HIV/AIDS: Between Promises & Performance

The following commentary was written by Raymond Blank and was submitted to the Adrian Fenty Transition Blog. Be sure to share your thoughts on HIV/AIDS with Mayor Elect Fenty. Post your comments here.

Promises of action made by Mayor Williams more than a year ago to bolster the battle against HIV have not been realized. The fact remains that the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the District remains both disturbing and depressing. The rate of infection in Washington remains ten times the national rate. African American women are 90% of all infected female residents and many thousands of residents do not know their status. Blacks are 60% of the District’s population but represent more than 80% of AIDS cases and nearly 20,000 residents are living with HIV. Recent tests indicate that among the 16,700 persons tested, 580 tested positive, a new increase of nearly 4%. Dr. John Hogan of Unity Health Care recently observed that this deadly virus strikes where “lives of quiet desperation” are experienced.

The size of this epidemic, however, requires adequate scope of services to meet current and increasing demands. Despite the mayor’s promises, real progress still eludes the Administration for HIV Policies and Programs. This deadly health crisis is still growing while the city’s ability to combat this disease with effective prevention and treatment services have not increased accordingly.

The City Council last year appropriated a half-million dollars to establish HIV services in Ward 7 where no services are provided although it has the second highest rate of infection in the city. Today, there are still no services in that ward although a local consulting firm was hired to assist in developing new services. More distressing, nearly 25% of the Council’s award was spent illegally in other sectors of the city and for other purposes. Regretfully, adequate prevention and treatment services have not been expanded to residents most in need and who engaged in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex or shared needles.

A year ago, the Office of the Inspector General audited AHPP and found substantial deficits in its management practices especially related to grant awards to community service providers. This year, the IG’s Office conducted a similar audit and found no evidence of progress in the effective management of public resources. One organization secured a grant of a quarter of a million but the audit found no evidence of services provided to the public. AHPP personnel never once monitored the use of public funds awarded to the agency. Epidemiological data is still neither complete or easily available and the agency’s surveillance remains below standards of competence.

A major campaign, “Know Your Status,” was kicked off in June with the goal of testing 400,000 residents between 14 and 84 by December. HIV testing is an effective prevention practice endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control. More than $1.2 million dollars was budgeted to support this massive testing initiative that has achieved less than 5% of its campaign target. Two highly publicized testing events were held on Freedom Plaza at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. But less than 200 people submitted to the test in either event. No special testing events were organized east of the river area during where the majority of people infected live. Fortunately, nearly a third of all residents recently tested are inmates at the DC Jail. However, 6% or nearly 250 more people tested positive but community providers lack the capacity to absorb this increased cohort needing follow-up health services in the community once released from jail.

Perhaps the most important failure in the last year of the Williams Administration is the consistent absence of any adequate effort to really engage community residents regarding this health crisis that effects one of every 20 residents. A health challenge of this magnitude requires the involvement of citizens to also help to reverse alarming trends. Walter Smith, the president of the DC Appleseed, emphasized recently the necessity for a community dialogue to better alert and engage residents, to promote practices of prevention, distribute materials that foster harm reduction and circulate information on treatment services and locations. The absence of residents from such a dialogue prohibits collaborations by the city with its citizens, depresses a necessary synergy and diminishes the community’s capacity to contribute in combating HIV.

Last year, the DC Appleseed Report on HIV and AIDS in the District asserted that the city was 15 years behind the scope and quality of services and management necessary to meet this growing health challenge. No appreciable improvements have been attained lately while this disease continues to grow where people are most vulnerable and lack adequate and competent services. It’s time for the District to truly deliver on its promises.

Raymond S. Blanks is a member of the District’s Community HIV Planning Group.

D.C. falls short of goal in testing for HIV

From the Washington Blade: The city will fall far short of meeting its ambitious goal of screening all residents for HIV between the ages of 14 and 84 — about 400,000 people — between June 27 and Dec. 31, District health officials said. Gregg Pane, director of the D.C. Department of Health, said the city’s widely publicized HIV testing initiative resulted in about 20,000 people being tested during a five-month period as of Dec. 1. The figure represents more than twice the number of tests normally administered in the District in a full year, according to Pane. “We certainly set a stretched goal, which was really to make the test available to anyone who wanted it between the ages of 14 and 84,” Pane said. “It was pretty ambitious.” Marsha Martin, director of the Administration for HIV Policy & Planning, an arm of the health department, set the 400,000-test goal. Martin has said her aim was to reverse the city’s status of having the nation’s highest rate of new HIV infections each year. Martin said the city purchased 80,000 rapid HIV test kits and initiated an aggressive public education campaign to promote the testing initiative. She said an undetermined but significant amount of HIV tests have been administered in private doctors’ offices and clinics in addition to the 20,000 known tests conducted through city public health programs. She said she was confident the city would make “good progress” toward reaching the testing goal in the coming months. AIDS administration spokesperson Michael Kharfen said the HIV testing initiative has a budget of $1.3 million, with $800,000 going to the purchase of “rapid” HIV test kits and $500,000 going to a public outreach campaign to encourage people to get tested.

Catania calls for firings at AIDS office

the following article appeared in the Washington Blade print edition this week but did not appear on their website. I thought it was worth posting here..

City AIDS administration officials came under sharp questioning at a D.C. Council hearing Monday following the release of a city audit that showed the agency failed to properly monitor millions of dollars in grants to vendors providing services to people with the disease.

Marsha Martin, head of the Administration for HIV Policy & Programs (AHPP), and Department of Health Director Gregg Pane fielded the inquiries. The audit found that 14 vendors providing AIDS-related services were operating illegally because they did not have the required license to conduct business in the District of Columbia. Others were not certified to provide Medicaid-related services to clients that the city paid them to assist, the audit found. The report did not identify the problem vendors described in the audit.

The D.C. Office of the Inspector General, which conducted the audit, is investigating one of the vendors for possible criminal prosecution after determining it was not performing any of the work the city was paying it to do, an official with the office said.

According to the audit, grant managers at AHPP failed to conduct required onsite visits and did not keep sufficient records to adequately assess whether the vendors were doing the work specified in the grants and contracts the city had awarded them.

D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large), who called the hearings in his role as the chair of the council’s Committee on Health, expressed outrage that the newly released audit uncovered some of the same internal management problems at AHPP that a similar audit discovered a little more than a year ago.

FINDINGS UNACCEPTABLE

While pointing to significant improvements at AHPP since September 2005, when Martin took office, Catania called the latest audit findings “unacceptable.” He called on Martin and Pane to fire grant monitors and other employees found to be negligent in performing their duties.

“I want to hear they’re no longer with this government because we cannot continue to pour old wine in a new bottle,” Catania said.

Catania released additional information he obtained from the city’s chief financial officer showing that AHPP failed to spend about $5.6 million in federal funds for AIDS programs in 2006.

Details about lingering problems as well as improvements at AHPP under Martin’s first year in office surfaced in a 31-page report released last week by the Office of the D.C. Inspector General, which outlines the findings of the audit.


William DiVello, a spokesperson for the Office of the Inspector General, said the office has a policy of not releasing the names of organizations or individuals that are subjects of audits. He said his office is investigating the vendor found not to be performing its work to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against it.

But in response to Catania’s questions, Inspector General officials identified the vendor under investigation for allegedly not performing its duties as Our Children, Inc., a community-based organization located on Good Hope Road in Southeast Washington.

Bridget Johnson, a spokesperson for the group, told the Blade in an Oct. 25th interview that officials with the group believe investigators with the Inspector General’s office “went to the wrong address” when they sought to verify Our Children’s work related to its AHPP grant.

“Their information was wrong,” Johnson said. “We have done the work.” Johnson declined to provide further details, saying the group’s executive director would issue a statement later.

Martin and Pane acknowledged the problems outlined in the Inspector General’s report and audit and promised to take immediate steps to correct them. Pane said he was especially troubled over the AHPP’s inability to disburse and spend federal funds in a timely manner.

“I take full responsibility,” he said. “I know it is not acceptable to her and it’s not acceptable to me,” Pane said, referring to his and Martin’s effort to improve procedures for grant management and the expenditure of funds.

Pane hired Martin as head of AHPP in September 2005 shortly after he fired her predecessor, Lydia Watts, for failing to improve the trouble-plagued AIDS office.

Watt’s firing came 11 months after Mayor Anthony Williams appointed her to head what was then called the HIV/AIDS Administration, or HAA. Williams named Pane as head of the Department of Health around the same time he appointed Watts.

Many of the longstanding problems associated with HAA during Watt’s tenure and the tenure of her predecessors were uncovered during a series of oversight hearings Catania conducted in 2004 and 2005. Martin, a former health official in the Clinton administration and the former executive director of AIDS Action, a national AIDS advocacy group, has been praised by gay and AIDS activists as an experienced and committed champion for people with HIV/AIDS.

To continue reading this article, pick up a copy of this week’s Washington Blade