Shortage of medical specialists plagues AIDS-ravaged southern states

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
6/19/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Infection rates in the rural South are among the fastest-growing in the U.S.

At its inception, AIDS was largely an urban phenomenon in the U.S., concentrated among the homosexual male communities in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. That's no longer the case, as half of all new AIDS diagnoses are occurring in the rural southern state of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, according to federal estimates.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2 million people live with HIV in the USA; one in five remains unaware that they have it. There are about 50,000 new infections a year.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "This disease is no longer a metropolitan problem," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a host of the roundtable says. "In fact, infection rates in the rural South are among the fastest-growing in the country."

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that there is a severe shortage of HIV specialists in the South. AIDS United, a Washington-based group that provides grants to community organizations, is starting a push to control AIDS in the South.

The group seeks to spread awareness of the problem and highlight ways of for people living with the disease in the region in a congressional roundtable this week on Capitol Hill.

It appears that there are much higher concentrations of HIV specialists in traditional "epicenters" of the original HIV epidemic. There are 411 in California and 275 in New York State in contrast with 243 in the nine Southeast states. Bruce Packett, deputy executive director of the American Academy of HIV Medicine says that this concentration of expert care "just isn't rationally representative of HIV incidences by state."

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., one of the House sponsors says "Make no mistake - HIV/AIDS is devastating communities of color, women and young gay and bisexual men in the U.S., especially in the South."

Roundtable participants will hear from activists, patients and care providers, who will share information on programs that are overcoming hurdles to access.

One service that will hopefully address the paucity of qualified medical personnel in the ongoing epidemic is meeting with a doctor through a health program electronically with a video hook-up.

Montgomery AIDS Outreach, a group that has about 1,200 active medical patients in 26 counties of south-central Alabama, has recently launched such a program. "You're having a real-time, face-to-face conversation, except that it's electronic," medical director Laurie Dill says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2 million people live with HIV in the USA; one in five remains unaware that they have it. There are about 50,000 new infections a year.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Southern states, AIDS, doctor shortage

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