The Continuing HIV Crisis in the U.S. South, Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (2012).

This report, released on November 28, 2012 by Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI), examines HIV epidemiology in the South using 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government agencies. The report focuses on nine targeted states in the South particularly affected by HIV – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and (East) Texas.

The CDC data show that the targeted states had the highest rates of HIV diagnoses in the United States – 23.8 per 100,000 population. While the South makes up about a third of the country's population, it is home to over half of new HIV diagnoses. Nine of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest HIV incidence rates, and seven of the 10 with the highest AIDS incidence rates, were in the targeted states. The data showed similar patterns in HIV and AIDS prevalence rates. All nine of the targeted states are among the 15 states with the highest HIV mortality rates.

Southern states - and in particular most of the targeted states - received less federal funding per AIDS case from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which funds HIV-related services for those without sufficient income or health care coverage. The receipt in those states of other federal funding, including Housing Options for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) and AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) was closer to the national average for each funding stream.