Bonn, Germany: UN studies note that a record 2.6 million people died from the HIV/AIDS pandemic in 1999 and another 5.6 million became infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The fight against HIV/AIDS is not only medical. The stigma of AIDS and its effect on societies is also an enemy UN Volunteers are combating. UNVs -- many of them infected with HIV -- have stepped into the open to give a human face and voice to the epidemic. Read

Bonn, Germany: UNV specialists in Niger support government efforts to improve health conditions and the overall well-being of communities. Read

Kasama, Zambia: In Zambia, people with HIV/AIDS receive home-based care and support  from a mission hospital in Chilonga. A diary by UNV Regina Tibenderama. Read

Bonn, Germany: Temirtau, a Kazakh city struggles against drugs and HIV/AIDS. The socio-economic situation in Temirtau, inflated by the down-sizing of its main employer the steel-producing combinat, and the virtual collapse of the former Soviet welfare state, is being tragically aggravated by a relatively cheap and well organised supply of illicit narcotics. Read

Bonn, Germany: As a medical doctor and nutritionist in Mali, I am assigned to one of the poorest countries in the world. I work in a deprived rural community of 2,800 inhabitants in the Mopti region, some 800 km from the capital. Read

Bonn, Germany: "The UNVs were the first to roll up their sleeves and work day and night when cholera broke out. They really demonstrated what volunteerism is about." It is with deep respect that Luciano Lisboa, Director of the Institute of Health Services in Beira recalls the dedication of the UNV tutor nurses Aisha Mtwana from Tanzania, and her Cuban colleagues Julia Isabel Vazquez Prieto and Mayda Rosa Font during the two months when the epidemic hit Mozambique’s second largest city. Read

Bonn, Germany: Ophthalmologist Dr. Sunil Sachdeva, a 34year-old UNV, devotes his time to improving eye care in Guyana. He is working to strengthen virtually non-existent ophthalmic services in this South American country of 750,000 citizens. Read

Bonn, Germany: "Where lies the illness, lies the cure" is the guiding principle of Takiwasi (the Singing House). The centre has existed in Tarapoto in Peru’s Upper Amazon since 1992. Read