For Immediate Release

May 31, 2011 | WASHINGTON D.C.

National Minority Quality Forum Launches the U.S. HIV/AIDS Index:

Novel Internet-Based Resource Maps HIV and AIDS by Congressional District

Seven of ten congressional districts with highest HIV/AIDS prevalence are located in New York or New Jersey

The National Minority Quality Forum (Forum) today launched a novel, internet-based tool—the U.S. HIV/AIDS Index (http://www.maphiv.org). Building upon the HIV/AIDS Atlas introduced by the Forum in 2009, which currently has over 30,000 registered users, this updated resource enables users—for the first time—to map HIV and AIDS prevalence and total counts by congressional district and county. The Index confirms that the HIV and AIDS burden can be found in contiguous zip codes within defined congressional districts and counties.

“From a healthcare policy perspective, the U.S. HIV/AIDS Index provides us with the tools to direct needed resources towards early detection, surveillance, education, and treatment,” says Goulda A. Downer, Ph.D., RD, LN, CNS; Principal Investigator & Assistant Professor for the National Minority AIDS Education and Training Center in the College of Medicine at Howard University. “I look forward to working with the Forum and colleagues to use the index as a tool to improve health equity, particularly among communities disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS.” 

“We are introducing the U.S. HIV/AIDS Index to assist health-care practitioners, policy makers, advocacy groups, and infectious disease researchers not only to identify and quantify HIV and AIDS by congressional district and county, but also to help to more effectively calibrate prevention and treatment efforts,” noted Gary Puckrein, Ph.D., CEO of the National Minority Quality Forum. “As we continue to incorporate the most current disease data available including clinical trials information, we are confident that the HIV/AIDS Index will serve as the source of information about HIV/AIDS patients, their care, and the factors that are shaping the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in the United States.”

About The Forum

The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, non-partisan, independent research and education organization. The vision of NMQF is a health services research, delivery and financing system that provides quality and effective health services to the biodiverse American general population of the 21st century. NMQF helps assure that national and local quality improvement initiatives are informed by scientific evidence, and place a priority on the quality of care and patient outcomes in all populations.

Media Contact

Gretchen C. Wartman, VP Policy and Program

gwartman@nmqf.org | 202.223.7560