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 18, 2007 | Palm Beach Post

Haiti Fights Back Against HIV

Antigone Barton, PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

These are good times in this embattled capital.

Kidnappings are down and trash is picked up.

Brightly-painted trucks that serve as buses drive through bustling streets where vendors supply cheap wares and workers repair ancient machines with obsolete tools.

United Nations trucks patrol the streets, too, but after years of outside intervention, the people of this impoverished republic are running their own government.

November 18, 2007 | Palm Beach Post

Health as a Human Right

Antigone Barton, Stephen Sapienza

CANGE, Haiti — Trucks teeter perilously as they climb the rutted and rock-strewn road between Port-au- Prince and Cange, jolting the people who travel unsheltered on their cargo.

Under the best conditions, it is a three-hour journey of lurching, halting and downpours.

It was an especially hard trek for a frail and feverish 35-year-old woman named Benita, who was put atop a truck one day in August after seven months of growing weaker while the pain in her belly grew stronger.

March 15, 2008 | Project news

Round One: Winning Essays

Nathalie Applewhite

In March 2008, The Pulitzer Center partnered with Helium to launch its first round of the Global Issues/Citizen Voices Contest. Find the winning essays here.

March 02, 2008 | Education news

Antigone Barton presents on HIV/AIDS at Indiana University, March 29-30

"Heroes of HIV: HIV in the Caribbean" reporter Antigone Barton will participate in the "Mobilizing and Engaging Communities for Global Health" Conference at Indiana University during March 29-30.

The conference, which is hosted by Americans for Informed Democracy, seeks to raise awareness amongst the younger population about international health issues such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as inspire students to strive for policy solutions.

November 29, 2007 | News Points

HIV-AIDS in the Caribbean: Facing the Epidemic Just Off US Shores

This Saturday, December 1, is World AIDS Day, a moment each year for special focus on the epidemic. Two hours away from American shores people face this epidemic daily. The Dominican Republic and Haiti boast the highest rates in this hemisphere of the virus that leads to AIDS. And it is a story that has been overlooked in the American mainstream media.