AIDS Patients To President: Send More Money South

SHELIA BYRD

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — When Robin Webb lived in New York City, he was treated by HIV specialists and had access to counseling and nutritional programs. Now he lives in Mississippi, where few of those services exist.

Mississippi is just one of several mostly rural states across the South with a dearth of resources for HIV and AIDS patients.

"Here, there's no support group, no case management. There's no daily reinforcement," said Webb, 52, who has been HIV-positive for two decades.

Activists and the health care providers cite a need for more federal and state funding for outreach and drug assistance programs, as well as transportation for patients who have to travel from small towns to get care. That's the message they'll deliver when a top White House aide holds a rare community discussion Monday in Jackson.

Jeffrey S. Crowley, director of the White House's Office of National AIDS Policy, said the meeting will highlight two realities of the national epidemic — the significant number of cases in the South, and how the disease disproportionately affects minorities.