The Problem

This three-part series focuses on Austin, Indiana, and those trying to heal the nation’s worst drug-fueled HIV epidemic in recent history. Will Cooke, a small-town family physician and the city’s only doctor, cares for almost all of the 200-plus people stricken with the disease in a town of 4,200 – a rate the CDC says is higher than any in sub-Saharan Africa.

Stories

An ailing city, a lone doctor's mission In Austin, Indiana, a growing addiction problem led to the largest, drug-fueled HIV outbreak to hit rural America Read the story A plague emerges, testing a troubled city First came festering blight, then HIV as Austin, Indiana, struggled to battle deadly epidemic Read the story Through faith, a struggling city rises Connections forged by faith are spawning locally rooted solutions in this Indiana city troubled by drugs and HIV Read the story

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