Data Visualization Promotes Sound Public Health Practice: The AIDSvu Example

The ability to depict surveillance and other complex health-related data in a visual manner promotes sound public health practice by supporting the three core functions of public health: assessment, policy development, and assurance. Further, such efforts potentiate the use of surveillance data beyond traditional public health audiences and venues, thus fostering a "culture of health." This practice report provides several recent examples of how data from AIDSVu-an interactive map of the U.S. showing the impact of HIV at national, state, and local levels-has been used to: fine tune the assessment of HIV-related disparities at a community level, educate and empower communities about HIV and its consequences, and better target HIV interventions to reach underserved, vulnerable populations.