wfn.org | UMNS# 04562-Commentary: World must unite in fighting AIDS

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Commentary: World must unite in fighting AIDS 

Nov. 30, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04562}

NOTE: This commentary was adapted from a statement issued by the Rev. R.
Randy Day for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. R. Randy Day*

The prevention of HIV infection and the care and treatment of AIDS patients
is a major medical mission priority of the United Methodist Church. 

General Conference, the legislative branch of our church, has recognized the
importance of, and encouraged congregations to engage in, HIV/AIDS-related
ministries. General Conference encourages United Methodist participation in
World AIDS Day through education, special offerings and direct services.

The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, the church's international
mission agency, has been involved in HIV/AIDS ministries for many years, with
a particular focus at the present on sub-Sahara Africa, where a huge
percentage of the cases are found. We monitor every aspect of the global AIDS
picture, and we are alarmed by what we see at the end of 2004.

The statistics alone are distressing:
7	An estimated 4.9 million new cases occurred in 2004. 
7	Between 35.9 million and 44.3 million people worldwide are living
with HIV/AIDS, with the best estimate set at 39.4 million by public health
trackers. These are record highs. 
7	Of the 39.4 million cases, 25.4 million are in sub-Sahara Africa,
although the numbers are also increasing for parts of Asia. 
7	More than 57 percent of the cases in Africa are among women, and the
rates of infection for children and young people are frighteningly high. 
7	Between 1981 and the end of 2003, 20 million people around the world
have died of AIDS.
7	Twelve million children in Africa alone have become orphaned by the
dread disease.

We are also alarmed by the failure of the world's governments and the
international community to act more decisively in providing drug therapies
that can make it possible for people to live productive lives despite HIV
infection. We applaud the efforts of some pharmaceutical companies to reduce
costs of drugs for poor countries, but supplies of affordable treatment are
limited and still expensive. 

We are chagrined by the failure of governments to meet the giving levels
projected by the international Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. The fund is falling behind in its scheduled grants. Another concern
arises from reports that recipient governments do not always act swiftly to
use the resources provided by the fund.

The Board of Global Ministries remains committed to active ministries of
education and care in the area of HIV/AIDS. We are currently organizing an
extensive program of ongoing education for children in Zimbabwe who have lost
their parents to AIDS. We are working with churches across Africa to become
more effective in HIV/AIDS education and in equipping United Methodists as
caregivers. 

On World AIDS Day, 2004, we call upon all men and women in all societies to
observe responsible, safe sexual practices; to avoid all forms of substance
abuse, including those that can transmit HIV; and to avoid exposing others to
infection should they contract the virus that causes AIDS.

We call upon nations rich and poor and upon the international community to
devote themselves more ardently to the control and eventual eradication of
HIV/AIDS.

We call upon all United Methodists and all Christians to devote their
prayers, their means, and their service to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and
treatment.

 
*Day is chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries in
New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service