AIDS Project

 
                  

The Rotary AIDS Project, launched by Dude Angius, President of the Rotary Club of Los Altos in 1989, is a District 5170 program designed to educate others about AIDS, change attitudes and behavior concerning the disease, support those afflicted, and encourage Rotary's involvement in confronting the pandemic.
The goal of our District’s AIDS Project is to engage Rotarians in the fight against HIV/AIDS through a variety of programs and projects, the most current of which is Child AIDS Prevention (CAP).
 
PAST SERVICE PROJECTS
Through its 25 year history, the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project (LARAP) has carried out a variety of local and international service projects supporting Rotary’s goals for health, youth, and community service.
  • The DVD of “The Los Altos Story”, featured as a keynote address at the Rotary International Convention in Orlando, Florida, has been distributed to every Rotary Club in America and is available free of charge at www.rotaryaidsproject.org.
  • An African health clinic was remodeled for the security of AIDS patients in partnership with the Rotary Club of Sandown, South Africa.
  • The book “HIV, Health and Your Community” was translated into seven languages and distributed internationally.
  • Two community symposiums in 1994 and 2009 raised community awareness about HIV/AIDS for employers, educators, and the general public.
  • “The Rotarian” magazine of May 2012 featured CAP’s AIDS prevention efforts in partnership with the Rotary Club of Sinkor, Liberia. See “Special Deliveries” article.
  • NPR radio’s “Here and Now” show of July 9, 2015 featured our LARAP community service efforts as “Rotary Club is Still Fighting AIDS 25 Years Later”.
NEW SERVICE in Child AIDS Prevention
Our current focus is the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Under the leadership of Rich Casey, President of LARAP and AIDS Project District 5170 Chair, Child AIDS Prevention (CAP) has received three Rotary Foundation grants for training Liberian healthcare workers in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Trainees learn to counsel pregnant women how to prevent infection of their babies during birth and breastfeeding. Internationally this is known as Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT).
 
To expand our reach and facilitate medical challenges, LARAP has recently forged an important partnership with Save the Children, the leading international NGO focused on child and maternal health.
 
LARAP speakers are available to travel to clubs in our District and beyond to present a 30 minute Power Point program describing our District’s current AIDS prevention projects.
 
We are now fundraising to meet the AIDS challenge in Ethiopia and Nepal. Transfers of District Designated Funds (DDF) help support this work and cash contributions are accepted through our non-profit 501(c)(3) status.
 
For more information, visit the LARAP website www.rotaryaidsproject.org and click on “Child AIDS Prevention”. Our Facebook page is “Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project—Child AIDS Prevention”.
 
Please visit www.rotaryaidsproject.org or contact Rich Casey at RLC73@aol.com to learn more about these programs and to become aware of the magnitude of the District’s Rotary AIDS Project.