The local HIV epidemic gets a powerful visual update on an interactive, zip code-by-zip code map that details the highest numbers of HIV-positive residents and how many of them contracted it during gay sex.
AIDSVu first released its HIV maps of 33 U.S. metropolitan areas last year based on data out of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. In February, the map was used to track and predict Atlanta’s upcoming AIDS battles. Now Atlanta, home to the 5th most new HIV infections in the country according to the CDC, gets an updated AIDSVu map to include the most recent data available.
The intent of the maps is to continually update information on HIV impact so that public health and community organizations can allocate resources and plan responses where they are most needed.
The updated map (first image below) shows the most numerous cases of HIV are still in downtown and Midtown, with nearly as high numbers as far in every direction as North Druid Hills, East Point, East Lake and Forest Park. Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the top 13 zip codes for HIV-positive residents (in magenta on below image).
East Lake/South Decatur (30032)
Downtown Atlanta (30303)
Virginia Highland (30308)
Midtown/Ansley Park (30309)
West of Atlanta (30310)
Downtown Atlanta/south of I-20 (30312)
Westside, including Centennial Park area (30313)
South of I-20 (30315)
East Atlanta (30316)
Kirkwood/East Lake (30317)
Northwest Atlanta (30318)
Northeast Atlanta (30324 and 30329)
Interactive features on the map allow users to click on each zip code and customize data based on race, sex and age, and beyond the zip codes, some of the demographic results are particularly compelling.
HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects black populations in Atlanta, as 68 percent of people living with HIV or AIDS in Atlanta are black, 19 percent are while and 6 percent are Hispanic or Latino.
The disease is far more prevalent in Atlanta males than females; 80 percent of people living with HIV or AIDS in 2012 were men, and only 20 percent were women.
That’s not nearly all, gay Atlanta. The local HIV story continues to unfold in the latest data. Of infections among men in Atlanta, 61.5 percent are contracted from sex between men (second image below). Nationally, 24 percent of HIV diagnoses turn to AIDS within 12 months. But in Atlanta, nearly 30 percent go full-blown within a year after initial HIV diagnosis (third image below).
The information just adds to what we already knew about dropping HIV rates, unless you're gay, and what's documented on uncontrolled cases of the disease, especially if you're also young.
View and customize your own AIDSVu map.
