State laws and policies are denying treatment to HIV-positive Mississippians, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement. In a new report titled Rights at Risk: State Response to HIV in Mississippi, HRW documents the harmful results of Mississippi’s policies. The state provides little or no funding for HIV prevention, housing, transportation or prescription drug programs for people living with HIV. Mississippi’s HIV epidemic is growing fastest among men who have sex with men. Heterosexual women are the second-largest group.

To read the HRW statement, click here.

To read “Southern Discomfort” from POZ magazine, click here.