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(Washington, DC) — District officials are expected to release details of a new report which shows some improvements in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the city. The report, compiled by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, gives the District high marks for increasing testing and funding for free condom programs, but also says the city has a long way to go. Even with the improvements, the District still has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the nation. The report also criticizes Mayor Adrian Fenty for not doing enough to make the epidemic more visible to the public, noting how city officials could do a lot more through public awareness campaigns. The report also calls on the District to strengthen its clean needle exchange program. Later this afternoon, Fenty and city health officials will gather at a free condom distribution site in Southeast to release more details on the report. The HIV/AIDS situation in the District made headlines earlier this year when a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that at least three-percent of the city’s population was infected, which puts the nation’s capital at a level of “severe epidemic” status.

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