Deeper Look: HIV in the South

The South experiences a higher burden of HIV compared to other regions across the country, especially among communities of color. Black Americans in the South represented half of all new HIV diagnoses in the region in 2020, despite comprising only 19% of the Southern population. The South also only accounted for 21% of PrEP users in 2021.

Visit our service locators to find and share HIV prevention, testing, and Ryan White care services across the South. Our service locator also includes service location sites in the Deep South for stigma reduction, overdose prevention/reversal, harm reduction, and trauma-informed care.

Check out our infographics and expert Q&As below and read down the page for a deeper look at HIV in the South.

The Southern U.S. accounts for approximately 38% of the U.S. population but represented more than half (52%) of all new HIV diagnoses in 2020.

Despite significant advances in diagnosis, care, and prevention, HIV/AIDS continues to be a public health crisis in the United States. The situation is most acute in the Southern U.S., which experiences the greatest burden of new HIV infection, illness, and deaths of any U.S. region.

In early 2019, President Trump introduced the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America initiative, which seeks to end HIV in the United States by 2030. Funding was distributed to 48 counties with the highest burden of new HIV diagnoses along with San Juan, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. and seven states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina) with a substantial rural HIV burden.

Of the 48 highest burden counties targeted by the Initiative, 48% are in the South.

The Southern U.S. accounts for approximately 45% of all people living with an HIV diagnosis in the U.S. and 52% of all new HIV diagnoses in 2020. This is despite the region only making up one-third (38%) of the U.S. population. Some communities in the South, such as Black and Latino gay and bisexual men, are disproportionately impacted by HIV and are seeing increased rates of new infection – a chilling reminder that the HIV epidemic is far from a thing of the past.

AIDSVu is an interactive data visualization tool that helps policy makers, public health officials, advocates, and community leaders better understand the HIV epidemic where they live. AIDSVu maps the impact of HIV across the Southern U.S. down to the ZIP code-level for nearly 30 Southern cities and at the county-level for 16 Southern states.