Welcome to The UP HILL Project!

The UP HILL Project stands for Understanding Prevention of HIV in India while lengthening life.  Our project started off in September of 2007 as a big dream in the minds of two young University of South Dakota Physician Assistant students.  Our dream is slowly becoming a reality as more people are joining us to make our dream a possibility.

The purpose of The UP HILL Project is to decrease the rapidly growing cases of HIV in South, India.  We are set up as a child organization under the well established CCOORR (Christian Council for Rural Development) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

A community based free clinic called the UP HILL project will be set up in a rural village of Tada, India near Chennai.  Tada has a population of around 40,000 and has about 30 smaller villages within a 10 mile radius.  The clinic will provide support, treatment, and care for Indian women and youth infected with HIV/AIDS and other STIs.  There will be a team of volunteers working in the clinic itself, and another traveling team which will provide house calls to those infected who do not have the means of getting to the clinic. 

The project in addition will carry an aspect of outreach, by providing lectures to local high schools and colleges about the impact of HIV on India and how to prevent future infections.  The clinic will also act as a safe shelter for infected women and youth who have been abused or neglected due to having HIV/AIDS.

The UP HILL project will utilize medical professional volunteers as well as student volunteers (both locally trained and from abroad).  Utilizing students encourages talented youth to enter into the healthcare field and gives them hands on experience needed to apply to professional medical programs.  Once the project is up and running, we can provide clinical rotation opportunities for medical and allied health students and a student scholarship fund for travel expenses and lodging.