Eva M. Clayton: “Oftentimes we act on perceptions rather than reality, and when we discuss HIV and AIDS, indeed that has been one based…”

“Oftentimes we act on perceptions rather than reality, and when we discuss HIV and AIDS, indeed that has been one based on perception. Oftentimes we have felt, those of us who live in the rural South, have felt that AIDS was an issue of the North. Those of us who lived in small towns felt it was an issue of the big cities. Heterosexual persons thought this was only an issue for gays or that it was indeed white male gays. What we are finding is that those perceptions were ill-founded, and that the disease has affected all phases of the United States, particularly the South. HIV/AIDS is becoming more prevalent in rural areas and in the South. AIDS cases in rural areas represent only about 5 percent of all reported HIV cases in 1995. Only 5 percent. However, the pattern of HIV infection suggests that the epidemic is spreading in rural areas throughout the United States. HIV in the rural South is growing at one of the fastest rates in the Nation. The Southeast as a whole has the highest number of those infected. The southern region of the United States accounts for the largest proportion; that is, 34 percent, 34 percent of 641,886 AIDS cases. The latest figures we have is for 1997, and 54 percent of the 56,689 cases are among persons residing in rural areas.”