AIDS activists to Obama: Send funds to the South

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - People with AIDS, activists and health care professionals want the Obama administration to provide more money to combat the disease's toll in the rural South.

That will be the message Monday in Jackson, when a top White House aide holds a community discussion to gather input on a national strategy to combat the disease.

Patrick Packer of the Southern AIDS Coalition says the South leads the nation in percentage of new HIV cases, yet it receives the less federal funding than any other region in the U.S.

Packer says that medication assistance programs in some states have waiting lists, and that care for patients is lacking despite changes to steer more money to rural areas.