Peace Corps Reverses On HIV+ Volunteers
The Peace Corps has apparently backed off its policy of rejecting HIV+ volunteers, as reported here back in April.
In a lengthy story about Jeremiah Johnson, the 25 year-old Peace Corps volunteer who became infected while on assignment in Ukraine, Poz Magazine reports receiving this email from the Peace Corps:
“Although there are certainly significant challenges associated with properly supporting Peace Corps Volunteers overseas who are HIV positive, our commitment to accommodation of HIV-positive applicants and Volunteers where reasonable and possible is firm. If qualified applicants and qualified Volunteers can be reasonably accommodated without placing an undue burden on the agency, they will not be medically disqualified, or medically separated from service, as the case may be.”After being ejected from the Peace Corps, Johnson returned to Denver where he currently works in a restaurant. Congratulations to him for pursuing his case and causing this policy change at the Peace Corps.
Labels: activism, HIV, Peace Corps