UAB Center for AIDS Research bringing experts together to tackle Deep South epidemic

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for AIDS Research is hosting a dialogue of regional and national partners to help build and strengthen a Southern Consortium focused on the implementation of a continuum of HIV prevention, treatment and care in alignment with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the Continuum of Care Initiative.

Ending AIDS: A Deep South Summit is planned as a follow-up to the inaugural event in January 2013 that was co-sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council and led byMichael Mugavero, M.D., associate professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases.The event will bring together a broad range of stakeholders with an interest in HIV: public health officials, community agencies, advocates, consumers and health providers from the Southern region.

The Deep South, defined as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, has seen substantial increases of AIDS cases, while other U.S. regions remained stable or experienced only slight increases, according to published research.

“In recent years, the South has become the epicenter for the domestic HIV epidemic,” Mugavero said. “Impacting this are unique challenges in the South — less health care infrastructure, geographically dispersed locations and higher poverty rates, for example. So it is going to take a lot to end AIDS in the South; but with thoughtful dialogue and meaningful relationships, we can hopefully find a way forward to advance practice, policy and research.”

Mugavero says the initial dialogue in 2013 led to the development of a countywide AIDS coalition in Jefferson County, Ala., and he hopes this upcoming event will lead to similar networks and coalitions across the state and region.

The event will kick off with an invitation-only welcome reception the evening of Thursday, April 16, at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The Summit takes place Friday, April 17, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Florentine Building. Birmingham Mayor William Bell will open the Summit with a welcome message on behalf of the City of Birmingham at 8:30 a.m.

“I think exciting things will come out of this dialogue because we have such great representation both locally and nationally,” Mugavero said, noting that the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House and a senior program administrator for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program will speak, as well as experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UAB, Emory University, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The event will kick off with an invitation-only welcome reception the evening of Thursday, April 16, at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The Summit takes place Friday, April 17, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Florentine Building, 2101 Second Ave. N. Birmingham Mayor William Bell will open the Summit with a welcome message on behalf of the City of Birmingham at 8:30 a.m.

Registration for the summit is required and can be completed online.

Summit attendees will also include representatives from the Alabama Department of Public Health, local community-based organizations, consumers and researchers from Birmingham, throughout the state and across the Deep South.