Project AIDS Khmer (PAK) is a small, humanitarian organization doing big things to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. In Rhode Island, PAK board membershelp with fundraising and project evaluation. But the group's life-changingwork on health and children's advocacy happens far away - in rural communities in Cambodia.

Cambodia is a country "devastated by decades of war," and genocide according to Dr. Kong Bun Navy, a PAK co-founder, physician in women's health, and international specialist on tuberculosis and HIV. Today, says Dr. Navy, "Families live with the continued trauma of AIDS and other diseases and lack of access to health care services." Especially distressing to the doctor, who studied medicine in Cambodia and speaks Khmer, is that in her home country more than 350,000 children "below the age of 15, have lost one or both parents" due to the disease.

One response was PAK, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that began as a collaboration between the Cambodian community of Rhode Islandand a "dedicated group of individuals in Cambodia." The problems were/areimmense, but Dr. Navy is hopeful. "PAK is a small NGO with limited funds, but we try our best to contribute to the success of the country." From building a community library, and collecting and donating medications,to providing treatment and hope to the "hopeless," I would say that PAK's last eight years have been effective, with more years of successful initiatives to come.

Dr. Navy is studying Public Health Policy and Management at TulaneUniversity in Louisiana with the support of a Hubert H. Humphrey FellowshipAward. She has more than 12 years experience working with NGOs, international organizations/donors, and Government sectors; she helped found Project AIDS Khmer while training at the Brown University School of Medicine in 2000.

- Reza Corinne Clifton

For information, visit www.projectaidkhmer.org. See related event on the calendar, July 28.

photo courtesy of Penny Jessop, MPH/Tulane University