HIV/AIDS Brochure Showcases HHD’s Work around the World

Every day, the AIDS virus spreads across continents, destroying lives, and decimating communities and economies.

Since the early 1980s, HHD has worked to combat the devastation of HIV/AIDS, creating programs along a continuum that spans prevention, voluntary testing, treatment, and care in schools, workplaces, clients, and communities.

In its new publication, "Responding Globally to HIV/AIDS and STDs Over Two Decades," HHD highlights its work combating the AIDS epidemic to promote healthy behaviors and environments where people live, learn and work in different parts of the world where the disease is at its worst.

In Africa , Southeast Asia , the Caribbean , and in the United States , HHD works with students, teachers, employers, agencies, policy makers, and especially with high-risk groups, to share data, educate and inform about the current research and best practices known to help prevent HIV. We create large-scale solutions to take advantage of our range services, including assessment and program planning, curriculum development, research and evaluation, and technical assistance. We also offer personalized development of training materials, distance-learning and evaluation tools that draw on local customs, traditions, and conditions.

The newest region where HHD is focusing its work is Phnom Penh , Cambodia , where we are working with a local NGO as part of a Deutsche Bank-sponsored project to help orphans and vulnerable children affected by AIDS. HHD has already been working with the Deutsche Bank in Chaing Rai Province , Thailand , on a similar three-part project.

“The problems that children face as a result of HIV/AIDS begin long before their parents die,” said Angela Chen, a member of HHD’s Global Programs team. “They often live with sick relatives in households that are stressed both financially and emotionally, and they are stigmatized and socially isolated from their peers,” she said.

The multi-pronged effort in Phnom Penh will provide children whose parents have died from AIDS with basic health care and tuition support to go to public school. The second component will target children orphaned by AIDS who are living on the street, helping them to reintegrate back into their communities and providing them with education and basic health services.

The third component of the project is to support girls who have a high risk of being infected with HIV as well as to conduct research on the lives of sex workers in Phnom Penh , specifically those who are affected by AIDS.

HHD's vision for responding to the AIDS epidemic now and in the future focuses on reducing stigma and discrimination and strengthening leadership and capacity in the education sector to protect the workforce and students.

"There is much heated debate about the origin and spread of HIV and AIDS," said Scott Pulizzi, a member of the HHD Global Programs team. "One thing is certain -- people are dying a preventable death. We all have a right and responsibility to respond," he said.