New Mexico and the Albuquerque community lag behind others in the Southwest in successful efforts to vaccinate children, stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and in preventing outbreaks of zoonotic diseases such as plague.

INDICATORS

• 9.1 Sexually Transmitted Disease Rates
• 9.2 Plague, West Nile Virus, and Hantavirus Outbreaks
• 9.3 Childhood Immunizations and Senior Flu Shots

  LOCAL TREND:

Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are on the rise in the Albuquerque community, with gradual increases over the past 8 years for which data is available. New Mexico plague and hantavirus cases were higher in 2006 than at any time in the past 6 years, but West Nile cases have dropped off since 2003. The number of seniors who didn't get a flu shot has been rising over the past several years, although 2006 was better than 2005. Much of the health data is only available at the State and larger community level, not for the City of Albuquerque.

  NATIONAL/REGIONAL COMPARISON:

Compared to others in the Southwest, the Albuquerque community has higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, with the second highest syphilis rate in the region. New Mexico plague cases account for over half of the cases in the United States, although fewer than 10% of those occurred in Bernalillo County. New Mexico lags behind the rest of the Southwest in the percentage of children who receive all their vaccinations as young children. The Albuquerque community is the best among peer communities for seniors over 65 receiving flu shots for 2006.

  CITIZEN PERCEPTION:

In 2007, Albuquerque citizens reported that progress has been made towards the achievement of this important Desired Community Condition, however further improvement in needed. Those citizens with the highest income felt that more progress has been made than did those citizens with lower or middle incomes; the relationship between income and perceived progress was valid to a statistically significant degree. It seems likely that citizens overestimate the progress made in this area compared with the actual data.

Opportunity to Improve	LOCAL TREND IS:	Negative
	ALBUQUERQUE, COMPARED TO OTHERS, IS:	Worse
	CITIZEN PERCEPTION COMPARED TO DATA:	Differs

NOTE: For help in understanding this page, see Creating a Community Report Card.