New Demographics Program Helps Government Leaders Plan for the Future

Georgia leaders at all levels of government will now be able to make more informed decisions related to tough public issues through the Applied Demography Program, a new service of the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

The program, a partnership with the state's Office of Planning and Budget, will provide a regularly updated, consistent and objective set of population and employment data useful for state and local government budget planning, said Warren Brown, director of the Applied Demography Program.

"By combining local trends with forecasts of national, state and regional changes, the Applied Demography Program will fill the gap for information between what the U.S. Census Bureau does for the nation and what Georgia cities and counties can do on their own and deliver it in an expedient manner," he explained.

The Vinson Institute will release the first population and employment projections to the public by the end of March, along with guidelines on how they can be used by government entities for strategic planning. Updates will be released every two years.

"The University of Georgia and the Vinson Institute have always been committed to providing leaders with systematic, data-driven research to address public issues. We look forward to enhancing officials' ability to anticipate future scenarios and plan accordingly in today's increasingly complex government environment," said Steve Wrigley, Vinson Institute director.

For example, the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources plans to incorporate the Applied Demography Program's population and employment projections into their process for developing regional water plans throughout the state.

Before joining the Vinson Institute, Brown directed Cornell University's Program on Applied Demographics, producing population estimates and projections for New York State. He has worked closely with the U.S. Census Bureau; he is a past chair of the bureau's Federal State Cooperative for Population Estimates.

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Georgia Ranks Fourth in the Number of Untreated HIV Patients in the United States

/PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that despite being the ninth largest state, Georgia ranks fourth in the number of untreated HIV patients in the United States.

"HIV prevalence is linked to ethnic/racial demographics as well as to urban/rural variations -- Georgia's larger than average black population drives Georgia's high prevalence of HIV," stated Jason LaBonte, Ph.D., vice president of new product development at Decision Resources. "Our epidemiologic model predicts that eight out of 1,000 people in Georgia have the disease versus the national average of five out of 1,000."

The new analytics tool entitled PatientFinder: HIV estimates that this high prevalence is compounded by Georgia's lower than average treatment rate for the disease (ranked 28th in the United States) which leaves a large number of HIV patients without drug therapy. Despite the abundance of untreated patients, however, Georgia remains a difficult target for pharmaceutical companies wishing to grow their patient base. Only 82 percent of the state's population has prescription drug insurance, which ranks 37th in the U.S.

Why Pharmaceutical Companies Need this Information

With the type of information included in PatientFinder, pharmaceutical organizations can identify the local markets that offer the greatest opportunity for their branded drug. Companies can identify markets that are underserved and determine if they should increase direct-to-consumer advertising, work with the local managed care organizations to increase awareness of the disease and benefits of their drug or align sales representatives to maximize market potential.

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