Project

Heroes of HIV: HIV in the Caribbean

With HIV rates second only to those of sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean islands that conjure visions of sun, sand and tourism now highlight the interplay between poverty and the epidemic in this hemisphere. And less than two hours from South Florida shores, the island of Hispaniola has struggled with the highest HIV rates in the Caribbean since the early 1980s.

Twenty-five years after the AIDS epidemic was given a name, it is a plague with tangled ties between the wealthiest and the poorest countries in the hemisphere. In a three-part series over three consecutive Sundays, Palm Beach Post reporter Antigone Barton examines some of those ties, in the Dominican Republic, in Haiti and in Palm Beach County.

Visit the "Heroes of HIV" interactive site.

The Pulitzer Center's reporting on HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean was made possible with support from the MAC AIDS Fund.

November 25, 2007 | Palm Beach Post

Epidemic Highlights Disparities

Antigone Barton, Stephen Sapienza

It was 1982 when Dr. Jean Malecki examined a dying 9-month-old baby and made the first pediatric AIDS diagnosis in Palm Beach County.

The parents, who had arrived recently from the Caribbean, were sick, too.

"Within six months, the child had died," Malecki said. "The whole family got wiped out by the disease."

Malecki states this flatly because in the past 25 years, the Palm Beach County health director says, she has seen that flinching from the truth accomplishes nothing.

November 22, 2007 | PBS Foreign Exchange

House Call in Hell

Antigone Barton, Stephen Sapienza

This video takes you inside the walls of one of the worst prisons in the Western hemisphere. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a general lack of funding in Haiti's National Penitentiary have led to exorbitant HIV and Tuberculosis rates. Reporter Antigone Barton and videographer Stephen Sapienza take a first-hand look at these conditions and an American doctor working to correct them. After this video was taken, USAID authorized $200,000 in emergency funding for health and sanitation improvements.

Aired on Foreign Exchange November 2007.

August 02, 2008 | Project news

Antigone Barton granted National Press Foundation AIDS fellowship

The National Press Foundation recently awarded the Palm Beach Post's Antigone Barton a fellowship to attend the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City from August 3 to August 8.

Barton, who reported on Heroes of HIV: HIV in the Caribbean for the Pulitzer Center, is among 60 NPF fellows attending the conference and its Journalist to Journalist HIV/AIDS Training session, which will train reporters on the ethical implications and requirements of HIV/AIDS reporting.

More information on the conference

August 01, 2008 | General news

Antigone Barton attends International AIDS Conference

The National Press Foundation recently awarded the Palm Beach Post's Antigone Barton a fellowship to attend the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City from August 3 to August 8.

Barton, who reported on Heroes of HIV: HIV in the Caribbean for the Pulitzer Center, is among 60 NPF fellows attending the conference and its Journalist to Journalist HIV/AIDS Training session, which will train reporters on the ethical implications and requirements of HIV/AIDS reporting.

June 02, 2008 | Project news

"House Call in Hell" to be featured at Silverdocs

"House Call in Hell," a video examining overcrowding, poor sanitation and disease in Haiti's National Penitentiary, has been selected as one of the five short documentaries from the online Current Rocks SilverDocs contest to be screened at the 2008 SilverDocs Film Festival, hosted by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel.

The annual documentary festival honors excellence in international filmmaking and will be held at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, from June 16-23.