July 21, 2008

AIDS Funding Crisis in the South

Federal funding to combat HIV/AIDS in the United States has largely ignored the South, according to a report from the Southern AIDS Coalition. HIV support, prevention and treatment programs in the region are struggling to stay afloat, Alabama newspaper The Birmingham News reports (al.com, 7/20).

“Unless we act to correct funding and treatment disparities, we endanger not just isolated communities, but our states and our nation,” the report says.

More than 190,000 people in the South died of AIDS-related illness between 2001 and 2005, a period when AIDS deaths had decreased in the rest of the country.

The report also indicates that HIV/AIDS has moved into more rural parts of the South with large disadvantaged black populations.

Researchers attribute the disparity to an HIV/AIDS funding structure that allocates resources to regions based on their overall AIDS cases as opposed to new HIV infections. This approach skews funding to metropolitan areas where the epidemic was first reported.

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Previous Comments:

edward Boss, Paris, TX 75462, 2008-07-30 09:30:30
With the increasing numbers of cases because of the security people feel because of antivirals,funds must be increased. The new salvage drugs for those resistant to the older mutated meds, which are working have cost that are sometimes double what the first antivirals were. Basically the government is also paying for the research that went into these. No one can afford the nearly 4k a month they cost. The programs must be expanded by the next administration

John, Woodbury, NJ, 2008-07-24 10:33:49
I understand the health may have needs, but I do not believe that people are moving there. I believe the epidemic is growing and there are just more needs. I am hopeful that the Southern AIDS Coalition will not due what it did in the past reauthorization, go for what it needs and not consider all people living with HIV/AIDS. At USCA in Palm Springs, I thought it was time to unit our communities and fight for what we all need. I hope the leaders hear us.

KC WEST, Kissimmee, FL, 2008-07-23 17:09:01
TRANSPORTATION !!! This is amajor part of the problem.

Gregg Levendoski, Warner Robins, GA, 2008-07-23 07:14:37
I moved from Phx.,AZ here. I do see a difference in fund usage. It seems that here in the rural south there are more non essential thing that $ are being spent on and places where $ could be used but the ASO's here could careless about. I have seen a huge change in care and do NOT like it too much. I wish I could be of help but, the good old boy system is in effect and does not seem like it will change. I feel sorry for those who need it.

Greg747, Patchogue, NY, 2008-07-22 15:45:39
OK here we go again, divide and conquer, was't it bad enough that the Southern AIDS Coalition helped shove the awful Treatment Modernization Act down our throats? Congrats. Are we to expect, again, that you will advocate that Congress take away grants for the North? Heaven forbid we all act as Americans and demand a huge increase for HIV/AIDS services for all! Restore the CARE Act, restore food and housing services for all of the country, please!