 DEEP
SOUTH PROJECT
Thousands of workers from Mexico and Central and South America
have settled in the southern United States either as temporary
workers or permanent residents. Provision of all social services
for this population, including HIV prevention education and
care, is lagging.
The Commission's Deep South Project seeks
to compile information about the situation with regard to
HIV prevention and care services currently available to these
new communities in seven states: North and South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana, where
the total Hispanic/Latino population now numbers approximately
2 million. The southeastern United States has the fastest
growing Latino population in the country.
During the second
year of the project, the Commission will develop initiatives
with local partners in each state, based on the gaps identified,
to promote actions to improve these services. So far, one
statewide roundtable on HIV/AIDS and Latinos has been held
(in Louisiana), and another is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Montgomery,
Alabama.
AIDS agencies and other groups are taking action
through creative and innovative strategies to respond to the
needs of these growing communities, learning from successful
efforts employed in reaching and serving other minority populations.
The Commission is encouraged by the positive response to its
Deep South initiative and welcomes new partners to join in
the efforts to reduce HIV transmission among Hispanic residents
and to provide optimum care for those who need it.
The Deep
South project is headed by Tim Frasca, MPH, author of AIDS
in Latin America (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2005) and a veteran
of nearly 20 years of work in the HIV/AIDS field.
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