Quick hits: Heroes of HIV

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and The Palm Beach Post got together to create a very in depth exploration of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in our backyard, or should I say playground.



The Caribbean islands, a popular American vacation destination, has the highest rate of infection in the western hemisphere, with rates rivaling that of Africa.

Two hours from South Florida shores the island of Hispaniola has the highest rates in this hemisphere.

There, in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, heroes have fought the epidemic with little but conviction and courage – some with new help now from U.S. money, some continuing without, but all with optimism.

Heroes of HIV approaches the stories from a very classical documentary approach and doesn't get too fancy with its multimedia, but you don't need to when some of the pieces can have you on the verge of tears and rage at the same time.

Sideshows, articles, video, historical analysis, external links to additional information-- there's so much to explore, and still more on the way.

Also the piece moves beyond good journalism by including PDfs for the major statistics and a section for teachers, with handouts and everything an educator would need for the classroom.

Social documentary in a new media age done right.