A FiveThirtyEight reporter on how she tackled an ambitious series on a huge, overlooked health crisis.
The Southern region referred to as the Black Belt is one of the most persistently poor in the country, life expectancies are among the shortest, and poor health outcomes are common.
Maps of the modern plagues of health disparities — rural hospital closings, medical provider shortages, poor education outcomes, poverty and mortality — all glow along this Southern corridor.