Improving access to health care will probably take longer. The Prevention and Public Health Fund, a component of the Affordable Care Act, has allotted $198 million toward training 500 new primary care physicians and 600 new primary care nurse practitioners across the country by 2015. But Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi has argued that the state does not need the kind of assistance that the law provides. For now the state’s health experts hope that their education and testing initiatives can help lessen the alarmingly high rates of HIV infection and death in the U.S.’s poorest state. They have their work cut out for them.

This article was originally published with the title Poor Man's Burden.

5 Comments

1. 1. JamesDavis 07:46 AM 6/30/11

   HIV and fossil fuel pollution seem to be America's two best plagues. Both are easy to fix, but no one seems to know how to or want to fix them. Apple cider vinegar, echinacea, red cayenne pepper, and a sea salt cocktail/with a strong order of vitamin C can kill most viruses...electric cars and geothermal power can stop most of our pollution. So, why are we still living back in the 1700's when stupidity was the highest in our history and why is the U.S. government still fighting affordable health care and scientific research?

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2. 2. FOOZLER8 06:15 PM 7/5/11

   Pussyfooting around a major problem because of political correctness. What this and all other articles fail to mention is that many of these people simply do not have a strong moral character. They have multiple partners (homo and hetero), lie about HIV or any other STD, fail to use protection because it inteferes with pleasure.
   
   Of course no one but preachers want to hear this.
   
   I am highly educated and a liberal and am not religious.
   
   This is NOT just a problem of lack of access to health care or of ignorance. And I can just see people reading this, nodding their heads in agreement, and doing nothing about it becaus of PC.

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3. 3. HubertB 08:58 PM 7/5/11

   It is also politically correct not to mention that male circumcision greatly reduces the possibility of males contacting AIDS from heterosexual sex. This is especially true when it is part of southern black culture not to circumcise black baby boys.

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4. 4. jbarker in reply to FOOZLER8 12:50 PM 7/7/11

   I like your comment. Contrary to popular belief, morality is not relative. It's absolute. For me, someone who wants to advocate various levels of morality is like trying to put forth various versions of the law of gravity. But there just aren't two ways about it. And I think that when it comes to morality, the same thing should apply to all human beings. We're talking about the greater good for society here.
   
   My particular viewpoint is pretty conservative about this matter. There was no talk of abstinence in this article. What's up with that? If abstinence was practiced before marriage and fidelity after, the spread of HIV would be dramatically reduced. We'd all appreciate that, right?

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5. 5. rakopu 07:18 AM 6/4/12

   Excellent article - I work in a rural area in New Zealand with high levels of poverty and conservative values, which has highest STI and unplanned pregnancy rate in the country, but to this point, little HIV infection. We cannot cpafford to get moralistic in such circumstances,but work within the context and bring about behavioural change that turns such stats around.

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