08/20/2026
❤️
Today is Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
For the people doing this work in the South, these aren’t numbers. They’re neighbors, friends, and people still fighting for care in a country that can afford to give it, and is choosing to cut it instead.
The South is 16 states and the District of Columbia. It’s home to roughly 38 percent of the U.S. population, and it accounts for 51 percent of all new HIV diagnoses in this country.
That didn’t happen on its own. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi still haven’t expanded Medicaid / - 1.1 million people would have coverage today if they had. At least 34 rural hospitals across the Deep South have stopped offering inpatient care, and 99 more are at risk of closing. When a hospital goes, the testing and the outpatient care go with it.
Stigma does the rest. In small towns, being seen walking into the clinic is its own risk.
And access isn’t equal. In one zip code, testing is a walk down the street. In another, it’s a 90-mile drive, a tank of gas, and a shift you can’t afford to miss.
So here’s the practical part. If you live in the South, go to locator.hiv.gov and type in your zip code. It’ll show you testing, care, and services closest to you — including places you may not know exist.
