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News Release

November 29, 2005

Display, Lecture, Vigil Mark World AIDS Day

A lecture by a University of Guelph psychology professor on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Cambodia and a candlelight vigil will be held Dec. 1 to mark World AIDS Day. There will also be a display and information table in the University Centre courtyard from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“The global AIDS pandemic has changed the world, and although many of us as individuals may not have been personally affected, we will be dealing with the pandemic on a global scale for generations to come,” said event organizer Christine Victorino, co-ordinator of citizenship and community engagement in Student Life.

For the past five years, Prof. Ian Lubek has been researching and advocating for women who are hired by international beer companies to sell their products to tourists in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. He will speak on "Making a Difference With HIV/AIDS: University of Guelph Students' Health Promotion Activities in Cambodia," at 5 p.m. in Room 1200 of the Thornbrough Building.

Since 2002, student interns and thesis researchers from U of G and the National University of Singapore have built local research and intervention capacity in Cambodia in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. They have conducted baseline survey research and qualitative interviews, developed research skills among local medical and NGO personnel, facilitated health education workshops, and evaluated peer-educator programs for groups at risk: married women, men, young tourist vendors and the "beer promotion women" who sell international brands in restaurants.

Lubek’s talk will be followed by an AIDS vigil that will start in the University Centre courtyard at 6 p.m. It will include readings, a moment of silence and time for participants to share thoughts, and an outdoor candle walk.