The Southeastern United States continues to experience the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS infections in the country confirms a new report, SASI Update-The Continuing HIV Crisis in the US South.  This report highlights 9 targeted southern states that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and (East) Texas.

According to this report, commissioned by SASI and compiled by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, in 2010:

• 8 of the 10 states with the highest HIV diagnosis rates were in the South*; 7 were in targeted southern states (AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, (East) TX).

• 48% of new HIV diagnoses were in the South, while the South contained only 37% of the population.

• 32% of new HIV infections in 2010 were in the 9 targeted southern states, which contain only 22% of the US population.

• The targeted southern states had the highest new diagnosis rates in the US.

• 7 of the states/district with the highest AIDS diagnosis rates were in the South; 4 were in targeted states (FL, LA, MS, SC).

• 9 of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest HIV diagnosis rates were in these targeted southern states, including Miami, FL and Jackson, MS.

• 9 of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest AIDS diagnosis rates were in the South; 7 were in targeted states.

• 6 of the 10 states with the highest HIV prevalence rates in the US were in the South (FL, GA, LA, DE, SC, MS).

• Southern states/DC represented 6 of the 10 areas with the highest AIDS prevalence rates (DC, MD, FL, GA, DE, LA).

• 9 of the 10 US states with the highest rates of death due to HIV are in the South, and all 9 targeted southern states are among the 15 states with the highest HIV death rates.

Leading up to World AIDS Day, which will be commemorated on December 1, SASI “call[s] on the President’s Office of National AIDS Policy [ONAP] to convene a State of the South Task Force including leading administration officials across federal agencies, leading state officials, private sector partners, people living with HIV in the South, and their providers to develop an action plan directed at the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Southeast.”  Read more here.

* The South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia

Sources:

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Diagnosis of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2010: HIV Surveillance Report. 2012; 22:http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/surveillance/resources/reports/2010report/index.htm. Accessed November, 2012.

Hanna D, Selik R, Tang T, Gange S. Disparities among States in HIV-related Mortality in Persons with HIV Infection, 37 US States, 2001-2007. AIDS. 2011;Early Release.

US Census Bureau. Guide to State and Local Census Geography. 2010; http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/guidestloc/select_data.html. Accessed November, 2012.