Miami Herald - Thursday, December 15, 1994
David Hancock, Herald Staff Writer

On Wednesday, the results were unveiled -- a countywide map of Dade's "hot spots" of transmittable diseases. It's the most specific information released to date about the geography of Dade's illnesses.

"We have all this vital information, and we need to make it known to the community," said Anita Bock, district chief of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

By releasing a plethora of charts and graphs, Bock said she's bucking a trend in social service policy. Most HRS districts have shied away from releasing disease information about specific communities. The thinking has been that neighborhoods don't want to be labeled as high-disease areas.

But Bock thinks those neighborhoods desperately need to know. "If I was in one of these communities, I would be thrilled that bureaucracy was not being so arrogant," she said.

Dade's highest concentrations of AIDS cases are in South Beach and an inner-city corridor that includes the neighborhoods of Allapattah, Liberty City, Brownsville and West Little River. Both areas also have the highest syphilis and TB concentrations, with other "hot spots" in Perrine and Homestead.

Although the areas share similar disease demographics, HRS is tailoring vastly different programs for the South Beach and urban Miami neighborhoods, Bock said.

"You have a far more educated population on the Beach," said Bock. "We're finding that people are educated about AIDS, but it's not changing their behavior."

In the Miami corridor, the approach will be geared more toward education and trying to slow the rising rate of heterosexual transmission of AIDS.

"One of the fastest rising rates is among black women. Black women have a tremendous hesitance to broach the subject of condoms. That's not the case on Miami Beach," Bock said.

The Dade HRS office is continuing to input data about teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and other problems. As the map of the county's social ills becomes more detailed, Bock plans to restructure the office into eight or 10 quadrants that will address those ills in more appropriate ways -- based on the needs of those communities.

"You cannot treat the issue of HIV and AIDS the same way in the Hispanic community and the Haitian community," said Bock. "Our teams are going to be a lot more focused."

* One out of every 40 residents in Dade is infected with HIV.

* Miami is second to New York in cases of babies with AIDS.

* As of June, Miami ranked third in AIDS cases per 100,000 population.

* HIV infection is the leading cause of death among men and women aged 25 to 44 in Miami.

* Blacks account for 47 percent of Dade's AIDS cases; Hispanics are 32 percent, whites 20 percent.

* The highest increases of HIV infection have been among women, babies and heterosexuals.

CAPTION: PHOTO Anita BOCK

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