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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: The South

Rural Hospital Closures and the Fifth District
Discusses reasons for rural hospital closures as well as the resulting consequences on communities, including decreased healthcare access, loss of jobs, and more. Emphasizes hospital closures in the Fifth Federal Reserve District and provides recommendations to policymakers and government leaders.
Author(s): Emily Wavering Corcoran, Sonya Ravindranath Waddell
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
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New SASI Analysis: In the Deep South, Significant Percentages of People Most Impacted by HIV Live Outside Large Urban Areas Demonstrating a Need for Increased Federal Resources
Examines HIV data in the Deep South to help identify targets for federal funding, focusing on underserved groups in rural areas and small cities. Analyzes Black and Latino populations, drug injection users, men who have sex with men, women, and people aged 13-24 living with HIV. Identifies 6 states where a higher proportion of these groups live outside large, urban areas. See additional links for state-specific reports.
Additional links: Alabama Report, Georgia Report, Louisiana Report, Mississippi Report, North Carolina Report, South Carolina Report
Author(s): Carolyn McAllaster, Gabrielle Goodrow
Date: 12/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Duke University, Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative
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Opioid Prescribing Rates by Congressional Districts, United States, 2016
Details a study on opioid prescribing rates by U.S. congressional districts. Compares congressional district rates with state-level rates and highlights rates among White populations, in rural areas, specific regions, and by other variables.
Author(s): Lyndsey A. Rolheiser, Jack Cordes, S.V. Subramanian
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 108(9), 1214–1219
Date: 09/2018
Type: Document
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Developing FAITHH: Methods to Develop a Faith-Based HIV Stigma-Reduction Intervention in the Rural South
Provides an overview of a pilot test of a faith-based intervention to address HIV-related stigma in rural Alabama. Discusses the factors that contribute to HIV stigma among African-Americans in the South.
Author(s): Erin L.P. Bradley, Madeline Y. Sutton, Eric Cooks, et al.
Citation: Health Promotion Practice, 19(5), 730-740
Date: 09/2018
Type: Document
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Trajectory Classes of Cannabis Use and Heavy Drinking among Rural African American Adolescents: Multilevel Predictors of Class Membership
Presents a study on cannabis and alcohol use among African American youth in rural Georgia. Features data assessments over nine years beginning when the participants are 16 and ending when they are 25 and looks a perceived stress and other psychological risk factors.
Author(s): Allen W. Barton, Gene. H. Brody, Tamika C. B. Zapolski, et al.
Citation: Addiction, 113(8), 1439-1449
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
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HIV Testing, Linkage to HIV Medical Care, and Interviews for Partner Services Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men — Non–Health Care Facilities, 20 Southern U.S. Jurisdictions, 2016
Reports on work by 20 health departments and 24 community-based organizations (CBOs) funded by the CDC to provide HIV testing and related services to Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in the South. Provides rural-urban data on the number of HIV tests provided, new HIV-positive diagnoses, linking people with HIV infection to medical care, and interviews for partner services.
Author(s): Mariette Marano, Renee Stein, Wei Song, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 67(28), 778-781
Date: 07/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Child Poverty Heavily Concentrated in Rural Mississippi, Even More So Than Before the Great Recession
Explores child poverty in rural areas, especially in the South and Southwest in counties with high concentrations of Native Americans and along the Mississippi Delta. Includes statistics comparing rates in 2007 and 2016, with breakdowns by metro and nonmetro areas and by geographic area, and county-level maps showing high child poverty rates and persistent rural child poverty rates.
Author(s): Tracey Farrigan
Citation: Amber Waves
Date: 07/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Persistent Rural Child Poverty is Also Concentrated in the South
Map showing which rural counties have high and persistent child poverty, high but not persistent child poverty, persistent but not high child poverty, and those that do not have high or persistent child poverty.
Date: 06/2018
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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Child Poverty Rates are Persistently Highest in Rural Counties and in the South
Bar chart showing child poverty rates in 2007 and 2016 for the U.S. as a whole, for metropolitan and nonmetro counties, and by region.
Date: 06/2018
Type: Chart/Graph
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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High Child Poverty Rates are Prevalent in the Rural South
Map showing county-level child poverty rates for nonmetropolitan counties.
Date: 06/2018
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: USDA Economic Research Service
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