Hader is director of the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration of the D.C. Department of Health.
Is D.C. doing anything special for AIDS awareness month?
We support the efforts of our implementing partners who are really the front lines [of this fight]. D.C. was selected as the site for international AIDS conference of 2012 and that’s a real vote of confidence. It’s a great endorsement that says the U.S. has finally done what it needed to do in finally lifting the AIDS immigration ban.
What is your role in the D.C. Department of Health?
[My job is to] pool all of our government resources and partnerships, lower new transmission of all of these diseases and especially HIV … and really build the infrastructure for a sustainable systematic response to the diseases.
What are some things you’ve achieved during your tenure?
One accomplishment is the use of data and evidence to drive policies and programs. [Before,] there were lots of reports about data evidence sitting in file boxes. D.C. was very late in getting information on people with HIV before it turned into AIDS, so for many years we were only counting people with AIDS, while many cities had already started doing HIV surveillance. Also, last year we were recognized by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] for the volume of publicly supported HIV testing.
If D.C. could do one thing — short of finding a cure — to effectively fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in the city, what would it be?
If we had to do one thing that would make a difference it would be for everyone … to take small steps every day to contribute to that goal whether it be protecting themselves … supporting a friend … or [not saying and doing] things that stigmatize people with HIV. If everyone took small steps every day because they believed the cause mattered, I believe we could see a whole lot of success.
— Violeta Ikonomova
