New data compiled by Emory University shows where prevention and treatment are needed most
ATLANTA–Interactive maps of HIV prevalence in Denver, Colorado are now available for the first time on AIDSVu, the most detailed publicly available maps of HIV prevalence in the United States. The Denver interactive maps are the first to visualize HIV prevalence data for the five-county metro area of Denver, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Adams and Douglas Counties.
“The addition of new city data means that AIDSVu now displays data from 21 U.S. cities including Denver. This expanded city information is critical because most HIV diagnoses in the United States occur in cities.”
AIDSVu is a compilation of online maps that display HIV prevalence data across the U.S. at the national, state and local levels, and by different demographics, including age, race and sex. The maps pinpoint areas of the country where the rates of people living with an HIV diagnosis are the highest, including urban centers, visualizing where the needs for prevention, testing and treatment services are the most urgent.
“Our National HIV/AIDS Strategy calls for reducing new HIV infections by intensifying our efforts in HIV prevention where the epidemic is most concentrated. AIDSVu provides a roadmap to identifying those high-prevalence areas of the HIV epidemic and shows where the local testing resources are located,” said Patrick S. Sullivan, PhD, DVM, Professor of Epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, and the principal researcher for AIDSVu. “The addition of new city data means that AIDSVu now displays data from 21 U.S. cities including Denver. This expanded city information is critical because most HIV diagnoses in the United States occur in cities.”
The Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University launched AIDSVu’s new interactive HIV prevalence maps for Denver today with a series of presentations to local community members, medical clinicians and public health focused academics in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. AIDSVu is concurrently performing an evaluation in Denver to assess the community impact of providing relevant and valuable HIV data in an easily understandable and interactive format.
"We are very pleased to have an opportunity to be at the forefront of launching our Denver Metro Area data on this incredible website. This tool allows us to display our STI and HIV data in a format that will allow our stakeholders to have increased access to our data to better target their own STI and HIV interventions for our populations at risk," said Melanie Mattson, Section Chief, STI/HIV/VH Section at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The free, interactive online tool’s data and features include:
- National maps displaying 2010 data at the state-and county-level, from the most recent national HIV prevalence data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Interactive maps of HIV prevalence data by census tract for Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
- ZIP code-level maps for 21 U.S. cities – Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Hampton Roads, Houston, Los Angeles County, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Tampa and Washington, D.C.
- HIV prevalence maps alongside social determinants of health – poverty, lack of health insurance, median household income, educational attainment and income inequality – in side-by-side map views for 21 cities, in addition to the existing state views.
AIDSVu maps illustrate the geographic variations in HIV prevalence across the United States:
- The national map shows significantly higher rates of people living with HIV in the Northeast and the South than in much of the rest of the country. AIDSVu’s city maps demonstrate that, in many cities, there is a pattern of heavily impacted urban cores with relatively lower impact in areas further from city centers.
- The data on AIDSVu’s maps can be viewed by race/ethnicity. AIDSVu shows that HIV disproportionately affects black and Hispanic/Latino Americans, and that these disparities exist in both major metropolitan areas and rural areas.
- AIDSVu also provides downloadable and printable resources – including slide sets of the various map views available on the site – to help those who work in HIV prevention and treatment educate others about the U.S. epidemic.
- Information about HIV prevalence at the local level – as shown on AIDSVu – can help individuals understand the impact of HIV in their communities and the importance of getting tested. The AIDSVu testing locator helps users find a place in their community to get tested for HIV.
The state- and county-level data displayed on AIDSVu were obtained from the CDC and compiled by researchers at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Data on HIV prevalence at the ZIP code and census tract data were provided directly by state, county and city health departments, depending on the entity responsible for HIV surveillance, and were also compiled by Rollins researchers.
AIDSVu was developed by Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in partnership with Gilead Sciences, Inc. The project is guided by an Advisory Committee and a Technical Advisory Group with representatives from federal agencies, state health departments and non-governmental organizations working in HIV prevention, care and research.
About the Rollins School of Public Health
The Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) is part of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The school houses six academic departments, 20 multidisciplinary centers – including an NIH-supported Center for AIDS Research – and over 160 full-time doctoral-level faculty members.