HIV and the Long Tail of Child Sexual Abuse: Duke University researchers in collaboration with researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that one in four HIV patients in the study had been sexually abused as a child. More than half of the patients in the study had experienced sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes. These traumatic experiences were linked in the study to worse health outcomes among these patients.
SASI Releases Comprehensive Report on the HIV Epidemic in the South: Calls for Immediate and Increased Federal HIV/AIDS Resources to the South
Durham, N.C. –The Southeastern United States is experiencing the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS infections confirms a comprehensive research report, “HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the South Reaches Crisis Proportions in Last Decade” released Thursday by the Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI). The report takes a close look at nine southern states that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and (East) Texas.
“We call on the President’s Office of National AIDS Policy to coordinate an enhanced federal response and focused federal resources on the southern states,” said Carolyn McAllaster, director of the Duke AIDS Legal Project and SASI project director. “As the report highlights, meeting the goals of our National HIV/AIDS Strategy, including reducing new HIV cases, increasing access to care, and addressing health disparities, demands immediate attention to the HIV epidemic in the South. The South faces an urgent need for resources to fight the epidemic as the South has the highest rates of both new HIV diagnoses and HIV-related deaths in the country, as well as poor social determinants of health and high poverty rates.”
According to the report, commissioned by SASI and compiled by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, 35 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 were in the nine targeted southern states, which contain only 22 percent of the U.S. population. The targeted states also lead the nation in new AIDS diagnoses rates. Nine of the ten states with the highest rates of death due to HIV in the country are in the South, and all nine states are among the 15 states with the highest HIV death rates. The report also identifies that 99.5 percent of people on waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs live in the South.
SASI representatives have shared the report findings with Jeffrey Crowley, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Christopher Bates, Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. “We are now waiting for a response from our federal government” said Kathie Hiers, a member of SASI’s steering committee, a participant in the DC-based meetings with federal officials and Chief Executive Officer of AIDS Alabama.
SASI applauds the CDC’s new approach to allocating 2012 HIV prevention funds.
The CDC announced that its 2012 HIV prevention awards were allocated based on the number of people living with HIV in each jurisdiction. SASI applauds the CDC’s efforts to better reflect the geographic impact of the HIV epidemic with its 2012 prevention awards.
SASI Delegation Meets with Washington Decision Makers
On December 9, 2011, members of SASI’s Steering Committee (Carolyn McAllaster, Gwen Bampfield, Kathie Hiers, Sharon DeCuir and Robert Greenwald) held meetings with Jeff Crowley, Director, Office of National AIDS Policy, Greg Millett, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of National AIDS Policy, Dr. Ron Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Christopher Bates, Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. We delivered SASI’s Research Report and more than 2000 petition signatures supporting increased federal resources for the South.
SASI Steering Committee Member Sharon DeCuir featured on BET Networks
I Am the Face of HIV: Sharon DeCuir, Prevention Program Coordinator at HIV/AIDS Alliance for Two Inc. (HAART), talks about living with HIV in Baton Rouge, LA.
World AIDS Day in the South
CNN’s series on HIV/AIDS in the Southeast conveys the urgency of the fight against AIDS in this part of the country. Check out that series, which begins with the story “Neglecting HIV/AIDS in the South.” The series gets at the treatment and prevention challenges, as well as the stigma of HIV/AIDS that can be so intense in the South.
New Research: HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the South Reaches Crisis Proportions in Last Decade
Durham, N.C. –The Southeastern United States is experiencing the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS infections, says the executive summary of a research report released Tuesday by The Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI).
The report takes a close look at nine southern states that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic in recent years: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and (East) Texas.
“With the highest rates of both new HIV diagnoses and HIV-related deaths in the country, as well as poor social determinants of health and high poverty rates, the South faces an urgent need for resources to fight the epidemic now,” said Carolyn McAllaster, director of the Duke AIDS Legal Project and SASI project director. “We cannot afford to be complacent.”
SASI was launched earlier this year by the Duke AIDS Legal Project to advocate for increased federal resources to stop the spread of HIV in the South.
According to newly released research commissioned by SASI and compiled by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, 35 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 were in the targeted states, which contain only 22 percent of the U.S. population. North Carolina is one of eight southern states with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. The targeted states also lead the nation in new AIDS diagnoses rates.
Nine of the 10 states with the highest rates of death due to HIV in the country are in the South, according to the report. All nine states targeted in the report are among the 15 states with the highest death rates. North Carolina is one of these states.
The data also indicates that 99.5 percent of people on waiting lists for the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs live in the South.
SASI and the Duke Center will make the full report available in December.
“When people living with HIV/AIDS cannot get the care and medications they need, they risk serious illness and even death,” said Dr. Michelle Ogle, an infectious diseases physician practicing in Henderson, N.C.
Forthcoming documentary about living with HIV in the South
Take a look at this promo for “Close to Home” a documentary that follows the lives of four Southerners–including our own steering committee member, Kathie Hiers of AIDS Alabama.
Synopsis: After 30 years, America thinks the fight against HIV/AIDS is over. But it flares regularly and quietly across the American South, where infection rates are 50% higher than elsewhere. Facing a broken health system and a culture of denial, HIV-positive Southerners must cobble together their own solutions to survive.
Sign Our Online Petition
Did you know that 43% of Americans living with HIV are Southerners?
It’s true – and it’s getting worse. Half the people newly diagnosed with HIV live in the Southern US. Death rates for Americans living with HIV are highest in the South as well.
The Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative is advocating for increased federal resources for the South.
With increased resources, we can stop the spread of HIV in the South.
Please sign our online petition to support SASI’s goal of increased federal resources for HIV/AIDS in the South and regions like the South.
Thank you.
southernaidsstrategy.org 