This year’s annual progress report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene indicates that the city has had fewer AIDS-related deaths since Mayor Michael Bloomberg and health commissioner Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, took office in 2002, The New York Times reports.  

According to the article, the city’s AIDS-related deaths dropped from 1,713 in 2002 to 1,115 in 2007. The report card also shows fewer smokers in New York during that time period, fewer deaths linked to drug and alcohol abuse and fewer reported cases of lead poisoning among children.

In addition, the report acknowledges that higher education and higher income are linked to better health, which may prove problematic during the recession. At a news conference at Maimonides Cancer Center in Brooklyn, Freiden warned that the recession might influence the city’s public health, saying, “Stresses on the health care system will be even greater.”