New Mississippi HIV Cases Drop

New HIV cases in Mississippi have dropped each year since 1995 -- an almost 25 percent reduction -- and reported syphilis cases are near elimination levels, according to Craig Thompson, director of the STD/HIV bureau of the Mississippi Department of Health (DOH). The numbers highlight the effectiveness of a DOH campaign to increase testing in at-risk communities, expand access to treatment and medicines, and promote honest discussion about the virus.

Mobile health units have allowed health-care practitioners to test residents in rural areas -- about 7,000 people have been screened in more than two years -- and spread prevention messages. They also give patients valuable one-on-one time with health-care workers -- moments when unprotected sex and other risky behaviors can be discussed in frank terms, said Thompson.

Such contact is critical for people who may miss HIV prevention ads on radio or television, or do not read newspapers or have access to the Internet, noted Charles Thomas, an AIDS activist and resident of Grace House, which provides housing for people with HIV/AIDS.

Key to preventing HIV's spread is getting those who are infected into treatment and providing them with support to accept the diagnosis, said Eddie Sandifer, co-director of the nonprofit Southern AIDS Commission. As with other STDs, the Health Department interviews those newly diagnosed with HIV to get the names of their sexual partners. The department then contacts those individuals to urge them to get tested and get treated, if necessary.

Grace House residents like Thomas also work to combat HIV ignorance, traveling to area high schools and colleges to promote HIV awareness, abstinence and condom use.

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