Public Health Issues In Georgia

Georgia, a state in the southeastern Unites States, is located between Alabama and South Carolina and boarded by Florida, Tennessee and Atlantic Ocean. Georgia is the 21st largest and the 9th most populous among the 50 states. The state has an area of 59,425 square miles. According to the last census (2010), the population of Georgia is 9.68 million (Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States, 2017).
Georgia is divided into 159 counties. English is the state language. Georgia has remained primarily a white/black state, with minimal cultural diversity. Black citizen’s account for 28.7% of the state and Hispanic or Latino origin make up 5.3% of the state. The religion of the majority is the Baptist denomination (Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States, 2017).
Atlanta’s population grew from approximately 2.6 million residents to 4.1 million people according to the United States Census Bureau. With 159 counties within the state there’s difficulty coordinating and monitoring public health efforts. Therefore, increased migration to this state has significantly increased the risk of HIV infection distribution. Georgia is home of one of the largest states with people living in poor economic conditions. A considerable amount of the population is in lack of health insurance.
HIV/AIDS is progressively being recognized as a major health epidemic and public health emergency, afflicting Georgia with most focus in Atlanta. The state of Georgia is classified 4th highest in the nation for total number of new HIV diagnoses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an astonishing increase of 38.4% between the years of 2002 through 2011 in the yearly percentage change among the new HIV diagnoses. Homosexual black males experienced the largest increase of