May 15, 2008
Sun coverage: AIDS in Baltimore
Sharon Williams walks the streets in Southwest Baltimore after getting her drugs. She is on her way to an abandoned rowhome in Carroll Park where she gets high and sometimes stays the night. (Sun photo by Kim Hairston / June 21, 2007)
About the project
Reporter Jonathan Bor and photographer Kim Hairston spent over a year exploring the roots of the HIV epidemic in parts of West Baltimore where the city's rates are highest. After finding that the sale of sex for drugs plays a key role in transmission, the reporter interviewed 19 women who have supported themselves this way.
Bor and Hairston, who have each worked for The Sun for nearly 20 years, got to know three of the women to gain a better understanding of their lives. The articles rely heavily on their personal accounts. All three granted access to their medical records or doctors.
Bor, a medical reporter, also interviewed dozens of physicians, epidemiologists, social workers and drug treatment experts.
Sun special report
An epidemic's unseen cause
While just a teenager in the 1970s, she danced on The Block, where she snorted cocaine and heroin and sold sex in back rooms. Later, with her addictions firmly rooted, she set out on her own, offering her body on the streets of West Baltimore as a deadly virus was spreading.
Many steps to a fresh start
Angela Jackson strides down Pennsylvania Avenue with pamphlets under her arm, unfazed by the line of dealers hawking drugs beneath blinking police cameras. "James Brown, James Brown!" cries one young man, applying the late soul star's name to his heroin capsules. "Ray Charles, Ray Charles!" cries another.
'I can't turn it off'
More than 25 years after being pressed into a life of addiction and prostitution, Ann Battle thinks she may have found a better path.
Sun follow-up
Targeting link between HIV, prostitution and addiction
Women who sell sex for drugs will receive new attention from public health authorities interested in finding ways to curb the spread of HIV.
Sun follow-up
Saving lives, one woman at a time
Tracey McCormick wears a white do-rag, a basketball jacket and a grateful expression. Her neighborhood of boarded-up houses, rife with drug addiction and prostitution, is short on warm comforts.
From Charm City Moms • Children's health • Expecting parents |
 The 'bupe' fixPromoted by the U.S. as a treatment for opiate addiction, buprenorphine has become one more item for sale in the illegal drug market. Also see: Sun follow-ups to the series |
Baltimore Area Restaurant Closures and Inspections
Search our database of restaurant closures and inspections by the Health Department
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Health calendar Archived coverage: Flu season > Maryland Flu Preparedness > CDC flu information |
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