South leads in spread of HIV and AIDS, but region has fewer services, more social stigma

HIV and AIDS in the South constitute a growing epidemic. The region "accounted for 46.4 percent of new AIDS cases in 2007 and has the greatest number of people estimated to be living with AIDS," writes Dahleen Glanton in the Los Angeles Times, citing a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control. Rural Southern communities are particularly affected, but HIV and AIDS patients in the South, the nation's most rural region, often face fewer services and more social stigma than they find in other areas.

Sheila Holt said when she moved from New Jersey to Henderson, N.C., she lost access to many of the services available in her former state: housing, transportation and medicine, to name a few. But she also lost access to the emotional support that comes from being able to talk freely about life with the disease. "People are scared in the South. They don't really understand that this is a disease," said Holt, of her experience. "They are either too religious to open up or they don't want the stigma." To combat the problem in her community, she has become a vocal advocate for HIV prevention.

Part of the problem is that the federal money allocated to AIDS prevention and awareness is unevenly distributed. The South and Midwest get less funds than any other region, says a study by the Trust for America's Health. Rural areas face even larger funding gaps. "There needs to be a better level of parity between the states. The money should follow the epidemic, but the way it stands now, the cities get way more per person than the rural areas," say Kathie Hiers, former co-chairwoman of the Southern AIDS Coalition. (Read more)