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Since the early nineties, Jane Aronson, M.D., has been actively involved with orphans throughout China, Vietnam, Russia, Romania, Ecuador, Eastern Europe, and Ethiopia. In 1998 she launched the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO). WWO's mission is "to enrich the lives and enhance the physical, emotional, social and intellectual well-being of children living in orphanages throughout the world." Specializing in pediatrics and infectious diseases, Aronson has been able to significantly improve, prolong, and save the lives of thousands of children. WWO facilitates numerous services for the mental and physical well-being of orphans, treats them for infectious disease (including HIV/AIDS) and provides them with homes, communities, education, and opportunities. Aronson has worked tirelessly to eliminate the stigma of HIV/AIDS from communities throughout the world, where parents will abandon their children infected with the disease. She has provided public information as well as medical reports to teachers and adoptive parents of the children. She fully informs adoptive parents of risks, medical treatment and information available, linking orphans with loving families prepared to take on complicated medical issues. Aronson has plowed through countless difficulties. For instance, in Vietnam, the local communities would not allow HIV-positive children to return to school, though these children were receiving medications and were healthy enough to return. Aronson rose to this challenge, equipping WWO orphanages with on-site schools, hiring teachers from the community and creating programs for students such as the Orphan's Soccer League and the Children's Theater Project. The Children's Theater Project is currently in the process of launching the Arts in Education Program to empower children through creative and innovative thinking and to give them a voice. Aronson's work has involved the expertise and contribution of a worldwide community of professionals as well, organizing extensive research on issues such as HIV/AIDS and orchestrating the first pediatric HIV/AIDS training ever hosted in Vietnam. These and other phenomenal breakthroughs for the lives of orphans have gained worldwide recognition including the Angels of Adoption Congressional Award in 2001 and the Resolve Friend of Adoption Award in 2006. For more information, please visit www.wwo.org.

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