The goal of this project is to ascertain the impact of state legislative policy responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It would use secondary data analyses to describe how states have responded to the HIV epidemic and to explain differences among them in response to the HIV epidemic.Additionally the investigators would categorize state policies as either contain and control policies similar to traditional public health responses or more modern strategies of cooperation and inclusion. Data on political culture, qualities of state government, demographics of the state, as well as those of affected populations and budgetary capabilities will be analyzed. The major analytic questions that will be addressed include whether alternative policy strategies of cooperation and inclusion are more effective public health strategies than traditional control mechanisms.
