Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is just minutes from the downtown monuments and museums of the nation’s capital and home to some major government organizations and industries that fuel our nation, such as the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, Lockheed Martin, and the David Taylor Model Basin1. Montgomery County, Maryland is also my home, and on the following pages I explore the prevalence of AIDS within my community. On the “First Impressions” page I discuss some of my first impressions and encounters with AIDS as a student and young adult growing up in this county. On the Where? Who? and How? pages I present data that provides information regarding the location of AIDS cases in Montgomery County by zip code, the various AIDS rates of males vs. females and of different ethnic races, and finally the mode of transmission for AIDS in the county. I compare these statistics to the national and state data in hopes to determine if a problem of AIDS exists within Montgomery County. Various demographic characteristics are correlated to the county AIDS rate, and these statistics can be viewed on the Statistics page, and is further discussed on the Correlations page. To gain a better perspective on the percentage distribution of each of the studied variables, the geographic locations are presented in Maps and when compared to the AIDS Rate of Montgomery County, the same correlations can be found. Finally I propose a multifaceted approach to solving the AIDS epidemic in Montgomery County, and these methods are discussed on the Solutions page.

    If you would like to know more about current AIDS prevention programs in Maryland, please visit the Maryland AIDS Administration or, to learn more about national programs and an HIV testing site in your area, be sure to visit "KNOW HIV/AIDS", MTV's "Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself", and BET's "Rap It Up" websites.