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If you're serious about making a difference in the fight against AIDS, you may want to consider going overseas to get a firsthand look at the devastating impact the epidemic is having on many of the world's poorest countries.  To get started, consider reading How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas.

Study Tours

Study tours lasting one or two weeks are a terrific way to learn how individuals, families, and communities are working to respond to the epidemic.  Some of the following study tours focus on health issues:

Global Democratic Citizens Union
Center for Global Education
Global Exchange
American Jewish World Service
Witness for Peace

General Volunteer Opportunities

You can also volunteer for a few weeks (or months) for a project working to provide AIDS education.  Some programs don't require any special skills, while others are designed specifically for health professionals.  And virtually all programs provide a full orientation.

Adventures in Health Education and Agricultural Development (AHEAD) has programs in Tanzania, Gambia, and Washington, DC, including a number that focus on public health issues.

American Jewish World Service has several service opportunity programs that vary in length. 

Amizade: Global Service Learning sponsors community-driven volunteer programs and service learning courses, including some focusing on AIDS.  These programs vary in length from one or two weeks to a month or more.

Cross-Cultural Solutions offers volunteer and internship opportunities in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Peru, Russia, Tanzania, and Thailand.  Programs range in length from one or two weeks to three months.

Global Service Corps provides volunteer opportunities in Tanzania and Thailand.  The Tanzania program has an AIDS emphasis. There are a variety of two-week, four-week,and six-week programs, as well as a nine-week internship.

Global Volunteer Network enables volunteers to participate in community service projects in Alaska, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Nepal, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Student Partnerships Worldwide is a youth-led international development organization that recruits and trains young people to volunteer as peer health educators in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Volunteers live and work full-time in one community for 5 to 12 months.

Volunteers for Peace coordinates work camp projects that bring together groups of volunteers to assist with local community projects.  You can search for AIDS-related projects on their website.

Health Professional Volunteer Opportunities

Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals seeking volunteer work in HIV/AIDS should consult these websites:

Health Volunteers Overseas supports over 50 projects in more than 25 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean.

Esperanca has programs in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Mozambique.

Diversion Magazine has published a list of volunteer opportunities for physicians.

Whether you take a study tour, or pursue a short- or long-term volunteer opportunity, you're likely to return home with valuable new insight into the issues surrounding global HIV/AIDS—and a renewed determination to hold political leaders accountable for mobilizing the resources needed to slow the epidemic and ensure universal access to prevention, treatment, and care.  Good luck!