The number of newly reported cases of HIV decreased by 46 percent between 2007 and 2011, according to a new report released today.

In a press conference at the Whitman-Walker Health center today, Mayor Vincent Gray, along with members of the clinic staff and the D.C. Department of Health, announced the findings of the new report on HIV/AIDS cases in the District, which saw a significant decrease in numbers across the board since 2007.

“We had the first case diagnosed in 1983 in the city,” Mayor Gray said, “and the thousands of people who’ve contracted the disease since, unfortunately about 50 percent of them, have died as a result of it.” But the new statistics revealed in the report conducted by the D.C. Department of Health and the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Administration show promising numbers as to the declining number of deaths attributed to HIV or AIDS in the past few years.

The number of persons with HIV who died from the disease, of which there is still no known cure, has decreased by 41 percent from 2007 to 2011. “HIV and AIDS is no longer a death sentence,” Gray said, “and the quality of life that people can experience who are living with AIDS really is quite phenomenal.” At the press conference, one of Whitman-Walker’s long-time patients, Guy Jenkins, spoke as living proof to that testament.

First diagnosed with HIV when he was 18, in North Carolina, doctors told Jenkins he had two years to live. “I’m now 32 and married with kids,” Jenkins said. “Life does move on and you can still live a positive, healthy life with HIV.” Though Jenkins moved to D.C. in 2008, he cites the tireless efforts that Whitman-Walker Health and the D.C. Department of Health do for HIV and AIDS patients for helping him receive the treatments he needed when he moved to the District. “I applaud the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Mayor Gray, and the D.C. Department of Health for all they do,” Jenkins said.

Some other noteworthy stats found in the report include that of the newly diagnosed cases in 2011, 80 percent were reportedly linked to care and treatment within three months. “This is a major improvement from 2005 when the number was 50 percent,” Gray said. Also noteworthy is that the number of newly diagnosed cases of HIV that were attributed to injection for drug use has decreased by 80 percent from 2007 to 2011. Gray cited the “advocacy and prudence” of the Needle Exchange program for the success of that decrease.

Gray, along with Dr. Joxel Garcia, Acting Department of Health Director, and Whitman-Walker Health Executive Director Don Blanchon all said that they’re “confident” that these numbers will be even lower the next time this report is conducted.