I am 28. White. A Female. And a former Peace Corps Volunteer. I am HIV Positive. This is my story of how a few months, a few people, and a few events in Zambia changed me and my life forever. This is the story of how I contracted HIV and brought my Peace Corps Journey to a crashing halt... and how I am working now to pick up and put back together the pieces of my life as a newly diagnosed person living with HIV. This was not the journey I had originally planned... my path has traumatically and dramatically changed... but it is the one I am on now. There is no going back. There is only forward. I welcome you to follow along with me as I attempt to explore this new life ahead of me, whether you are someone from the Peace Corps community, or someone living with HIV. I welcome your comments, questions, suggestions, and opinions. Let us go forward together. To start from the beginning, click here He Gave Me More Than A Bracelet.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

An Update on HIV in the Peace Corps

I recently acquired the most recent Health of the Volunteer Report (2010), and have thus updated the information provided here about HIV in the Peace Corps. I have also added some information about PEP use in the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps Volunteers Testing Positive for HIV

Between 1989 and 2010, 43 Peace Corps Volunteers have tested positive for HIV (plus me= 44). According to the below Peace Corps Health Report, 0-4 volunteers contracted HIV each year.

Here is a breakdown of PCVs testing positive for HIV by country, along with the years of occurrence. (This table only shows information from the 2006-2010 health reports. The earlier reports do not specify the countries in which volunteers contracted HIV, though I may try to find out this information.)

Country
# of PCV’s Contracting HIV
Years
Zambia
3
2011, 2008, 2007
Mozambique
2
2010, 2010
Thailand
1
2010
Paraguay
1
2010
Moldova
1
2009
Ukraine
1
2008
The Gambia
1
2008
Namibia
1
2006


Post Exposure Prophylaxis Use in the Peace Corps

Post Exposure Prophylaxis has been available in the Peace Corps since 1997. However, data on PEP use was first collected in 2006.

Here is a breakdown of PEP use by country and year, between 2006 and 2010.



Country
 2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Armenia
1




Azerbaijan
1
1
2
1

Belize
1


1
1
Benin
6
1
2
4
2
Bolivia


1

7
Botswana
2
1
3
3
3
Bulgaria
1



1
Burkina Faso
7
6
4
5
2
Cambodia


1
1

Cameroon
3
1
2
2
5
Cape Verde
1
3
1
4
4
China
2

1
1

Costa Rica


1


Dominican Republic
1

2

4
Eastern Caribbean
1
5
6
1
1
Ecuador
1

1

1
El Salvador

3
1
1

Ethiopia
2
2
4


Fiji




1
Georgia



1

Ghana
2
3
1
2
3
Guatemala
5
1
3
1
3
Guinea

2
3

4
Guyana

1


2
Honduras
1

3

2
Jamaica

3

1
1
Kazakhstan




1
Kenya
1
3

6
2
Kiribati



1

Kyrgyz Republic
2
1

2
1
Lesotho
5
8
6
2
4
Liberia
2




Macedonia


3
3

Madagascar
2

3
12
6
Malawi
4
6
8
2
6
Mali
1
2
2
4
1
Mauritania


1

1
Micronesia



1

Moldova



2
1
Mongolia


1
3

Morocco
1
1
5
5
9
Mozambique
11
4
8
17
7
Namibia
3
2
6
3
9
Nicaragua
2
3
1
2
3
Niger


1
4
3
Panama

3
1


Paraguay
3
1



Peru
2


3
1
Rwanda
5
3



Samoa



1

Senegal
1
2
2
1
2
Sierra Leone
1




South Africa
1

2
2
3
Swaziland

1
3
3
1
Tanzania
3
3
1
1
1
Thailand
1

1


The Gambia
7


1
2
Turkmenistan


1


Togo
2
4
4
4
4
Uganda
6
2
4
2

Ukraine
3
4
2
2
5
Vanuatu




1
Zambia
3
2
7
9
7