HIV is set to explode in rural America due to little to no access to treatment or prevention services. There must be a coordinated federal response to rural incidents of HIV, Hep B or Hep C to keep more rural Americans from dying!
Time has passed for slow or individual state response. Time has passed to assume what works in large urban environments also works in rural and small town America. It doesn't, and due to poor coordinated response, little to no funding from state governments, and due to little to no concentrated large scale effort directed at rural America, people here are dying at higher than average rates from HIV, Hep B, and Hep C.
The Office of the President of the United States, the Office of National AIDS Policy, and the Centers for Disease Control should act now to create a Rural Task Force on HIV, Hep B and Hep C to prevent even more people in the rural United States from dying of these diseases.
Our collective voices can make a change for Central Appalachia and bring awareness of this epidemic that plagues many rural communities.
