ABSTRACT
The global Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic currently impacts more than 34 million people worldwide. Although there has been a steady decline in the number of new HIV infections and HIV-related deaths around the world, this virus continues to burden many countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa where the incidences of HIV infections in that region exceeds other parts of the world (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2010). In the United States, the South accounts for close to half of all new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths for all age groups, with African American women and men who have sex with other men (MSM) representing the fastest growing group of newly infected persons (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011a).
