Published September 6, 2007, last updated on February 25, 2013
In Sherryl Broverman’s AIDS/Emerging Diseases class students often begin the course expecting to learn about the worldwide pandemic.
What many may not know, however, is that HIV infections and AIDS is a growing problem in the South, especially North Carolina.
"We tend to think of [HIV] as an urban issue and... we culturally associate drug use and sexual activity with urban anonymity, but that is not the case," said Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology and director of the global health certificate. "HIV is becoming a rural disease."
In 2005, North Carolina and four other states combined to account for 52 percent of new HIV infections in America, according to statistics compiled by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on national health care issues.
