November 30, 2005: Headlines: AIDS: HIV: Peace Corps: Peace Corps Commemorates World AIDS Day
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November 30, 2005: Headlines: AIDS: HIV: Peace Corps: Peace Corps Commemorates World AIDS Day
Peace Corps Commemorates World AIDS Day
Peace Corps events will culminate on Friday, when Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, visits Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss the U.S. government's efforts in fighting the disease at home and abroad.
Peace Corps Commemorates World AIDS Day
Peace Corps Commemorates World AIDS Day
U.S. Surgeon General to Address Peace Corps
Caption: Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, will visit Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss the U.S. government's efforts in fighting the disease at home and abroad.
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 1, 2005 – The highest number of volunteers ever are working on HIV/AIDS-related projects, and they will host awareness and educational activities as Peace Corps volunteers and staff mark World AIDS Day.
Peace Corps events will culminate on Friday, when Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, visits Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss the U.S. government's efforts in fighting the disease at home and abroad.
Dr. Carmona became the nation's 17th Surgeon General in August 2002. A native of New York City, Dr. Carmona's career in public service began when he joined the Army in 1967. He later joined the Army's Special Forces and returned from Vietnam as a combat-decorated veteran. Dr. Carmona holds both a bachelor's degree and a medical degree from the University of California - San Francisco and a master of public health degree from the University of Arizona.
As an example of overseas events, Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic will join government officials, community leaders, and thousands of others for commemorations in and near the island's capital, Santo Domingo. On World AIDS Day, they will join Dominican youths and adults to form a human chain down a busy street in the capital.
Then, over the weekend, volunteers in the Dominican Republic will lead a national conference on youth and HIV/AIDS as a part of the Escojo Mi Vida (I Choose My Life) campaign. More than 100 youth health promoters will attend the conference and learn ways to serve as peer educators in their communities.
In other posts across the world, Peace Corps volunteers and their host communities will commemorate World AIDS Day through concerts, plays, discussions, and other awareness activities.
Currently, more than 2,600 Peace Corps volunteers are working in HIV/AIDS, including 13 Crisis Corps and 43 Peace Corps volunteers funded through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In all, 90 percent of Peace Corps countries conduct HIV/AIDS activities.
As the HIV/AIDS pandemic spreads, prevention and care has become an important part of many Peace Corps volunteers' assignments. In 2005, Peace Corps volunteers assisted more than 890,000 people and trained almost 50,000 service providers.
Through the President's Emergency Plan, the Peace Corps has enhanced its programs to address the need for HIV/AIDS prevention, support, and treatment. The Peace Corps has programs in 9 of the 15 focus countries targeted by the President's Emergency Plan.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
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When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
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Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
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The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
 | The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
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170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
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