Washington clearly has a stake in the battle against HIV/AIDS, but how do we reconcile that with the chilling fact that black men in the nation's capital experience rates of HIV that rival that of Sub-saharan Africa?

Without important changes in the way our country addresses HIV/AIDS, in five years the annual rate of 56,000 new infections is more likely to grow than to decline.

With more flexibility to use federal funds for evidence-based programs, including syringe exchange programs, local governments and agencies will be better equipped to combat HIV transmission in their communities.

Twenty-eight years into the epidemic, we still do not have a National HIV/AIDS Strategy to guide use of AIDS-related dollars or hold government agencies accountable for steadily improved outcomes.