Background:

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that there were more than 1.1 million people in the United States living with HIV infection at the end of 2006.  The figure is up from 994,000 at the end of 2003, an 11 percent increase.  Experts attribute the rise partly to advances in antiviral treatments that increase the life of infected persons.  However, the availability of proper education and other preventative measures are a growing concern for states that are experiencing these dramatic increases.  Like most regions of the country, SLC states have seen a steady decline in reported AIDS cases since the early 1990s.  From July 1995 to June 1996, SLC states reported 24,037 cases of AIDS in the region.  From July 2000 to June 2001, states reported only 15,950 cases, a decline of 27 percent for the five-year period.  However, that number rose back to 18,946 for the reporting year July 2004 to June 2005.  This “fall and rise” trend is represented for most of the 16 SLC states in the chart below.  Only Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia saw a decline in reported AIDS cases in the latter comparison.

What trends are SLC states witnessing regarding HIV/AIDS infection?