Community Corner
Inside the Los Altos Rotary's AIDS Initiative in Africa
Rich Casey talks about the club's cutting-edge work to prevent mothers from passing AIDS to their children in Africa.
Los Altos Rotary's amazing story about of how its ground-breaking AIDS project has thrived and changed in 22 years got a boost on Boston's WBUR-FM's program "Here & Now" Monday, with the public radio station's eight-minute report on its Childrens AIDS project in Africa.
Here & Now host Robin Young, produced the 1990 Peabody Award-winning documentary, "The Los Altos Story," after then-president Dude Angius asked the club to act.
Casey credits women joining Rotary that has helped shape its projects (he reveals it was a former classmate, , who reeled him into the AIDS project after running into him in the supermarket).
Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Rotary went to Liberia last February with AIDS-fighting drugs, including an anti-transmission drug, Nevirapine. He estimates the club has prevented "a couple thousand infections already."
You can read detailed posts from Rich Casey's and Allan Varni's February 2011 trip on the Los Altos Rotary Club's Child AIDS Prevention Facebook Page.
Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In January 2012, Casey told WBUR/NPR listeners, Los Altos Rotary is taking a team of eight educators to train Liberians how to prevent transmission from mother to child, with counseling and education, and the drugs. Los Altos Rotary wants to take the same programs to Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
