Have You Heard Me Today?

World AIDS Day 2004: Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS

Each year, World AIDS Day is observed on December 1. United Methodists are encouraged to observe this event on or near that day. This year's theme is "Have You Heard Me Today? Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS." About half of the people living with HIV are female. Globally women and girls are becoming infected with HIV at a faster rate than men and boys. A new United Nations report says, "Despite this alarming trend, women know less than men about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted and how to prevent infection, and what little they do know is often rendered useless by the discrimination and violence they face."

Photo: Enara, age 11 of Dandara, Zimbabwe, cried in 2002 as she described the difficulties of daily living after being left orphaned by AIDS. A major donation given in 2004 to the General Board of Global Ministries from a United Methodist family will help underwrite school expenses for 2,000 children in Zimbabwe whose parents have died of AIDS. Girls like Enara and children with disabilities will be a special focus of the new program. UMNS photo by Mike DuBose, 2002.

Onsite and Partners News and Resources

• United Methodists Help Save Girls' and Women's Lives Through School and Literacy Programs, December 1, 2004.
• World AIDS Day, Statement by the Rev. R. Randy Day, General Board of Global Ministries, November 28, 2004.
• HIV/AIDS News and Resources, General Board of Global Ministries.
• "A Generation of Hope": New free DVD for World AIDS Day about ministries with orphans in Zimbabwe.
• Church Bulletin Insert: How the Children Hold On in the Midst of the AIDS Pandemic.
• World AIDS 2004 Worship Resources, General Board of Church and Society.
• Bearing Each Other's Burdens: HIV/AIDS Training for Church Leaders in China, GBGM, July 6, 2004.
• Bible Women Spreading Word and Work Throughout Asia, Women's Division, GBGM, January 15, 2004.
• UMVIM Medical Team's Pilot HIV/AIDS Training in Southern Congo, August-September 2003.
• AIDS Pandemic Hits Hardest in Africa, UMNS, October 29, 2002.
• Statements and Resolutions.
• Resolution on "Women and AIDS" (1996), World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women.
• World AIDS Day Observance (2004), United Methodist Church.

How to Help

You can make a difference. Learn more about HIV/AIDS. Prepare and send Healthy Homes, Healthy Families Kits. Donate to any project listed below by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted.

• AIDS Orphan Trust: Advance #982842 and AIDS Awareness and Children Impacted by HIV/AIDS in Africa: Advance #101218.
  In Zimbabwe about 7,000 children are under the care of several orphan trusts supported by UMCOR, the international humanitarian aid agency of the United Methodist Church. Unlike a traditional orphanage, children in Africa whose parents have died of AIDS are allowed to remain in their homes and assigned caregivers regularly visit them and attend to their needs..
• Enabling AIDS Ministries in the USA: Advance #982215.
  This program facilitates development and strengthening of HIV/AIDS ministries by providing grants for education, compassion, and advocacy for persons living with HIV/AIDS.
• Global AIDS Fund: Advance #982345.
  Responds to the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS within the context of their communities and assists organizations in Latin America/Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Asia/Pacific to address the prevention of the spread of HIV.
• Healthy Homes, Healthy Families Kit Program: Advance #982315.
  Prepare an infection control and basic care kit that contains 22 essential supplies needed to take care of an ailing loved one and prevent the spread of infection.

UNAIDS Resources

According to a new UN report, "HIV/AIDS is no longer striking primarily men. Today, more than 20 years into the epidemic, women account for nearly half the 40 million people living with HIV worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 per cent of adults with HIV are women, and young women aged 15 to 24 are more than three times as likely to be infected as young men."

• Have You Heard Me Today? World AIDS Campaign 2004: Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS.
• Global Coalition of Women and AIDS, a UNAIDS Initiative.
• Resources for World AIDS Day 2004.
• Rights Free, Internet Photo Libraries.
• Women and AIDS: Confronting the Crisis, a joint report from UNAIDS, UNFPA, and UNIFEM.
• Women, Girls, HIV & AIDS, UNAIDS photos.
• Archives.
• Gender Is Crucial Issue in Fight Against AIDS, UNAIDS, 2000.

Facts, Figures, Backgrounders

• Global
• AIDS Information by Country, UNAIDS.
• AIDS Epidemic Update, UNAIDS, December 2004.
• Children on the Brink 2004, A joint report of new orphan estimates and a framework for action from UNAIDS, UNICEF and USAID.
• Epidemiological Graphics, UNAIDS, December 2002 statistics. Complete set of 11 slides in PowerPoint format in English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
• Fact Sheet: Women and AIDS-- A Growing Challenge, UNAIDS 2004.
• The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Timeline of Key Milestones This interactive web-based timeline by the Kaiser Family Foundation is a reference tool for many of the political, scientific, cultural, and community events that have occurred over the history of the epidemic.
• Number of Children Orphaned By AIDS Will Rise Dramatically, UNAIDS, 2002.
• Sub-Saharan Africa: AIDS Profile, AIDS Policy Research Center, University of California San Francisco.
• United States
• HIV/AIDS Among US Women: Minority and Young Women at Continuing Risk, CDC 2000.
• HIV/AIDS Cases: Most Recent Basic Statistics, CDC.
• HIV/AIDS Cases Reported through December 2002, CDC.
• Policy Paralysis: A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa, Human Rights Watch, December 2003.
• Surveillance Statistics Charts: HIV/AIDS by Race/Ethnicity, CDC 2002.
• Surveillance Statistics Charts: HIV/AIDS in Women, CDC 2002.
• World AIDS Day Resources, Department of Health and Human Services.

Spiritual Resources

Inspiring Stories

• Great News about Africa and AIDS by Jerri Savuto, GBGM, June 3, 2004.
• I Wear a Red Ribbon by Debbi Hood Johnson.
  People often ask me why I wear a Red Ribbon. Some people ask the question simply to find out what the ribbon means, but other people are really asking a hidden question: they wonder what experiences in life has moved me so that I would want to wear a Red Ribbon, a visible reminder to all who see me of the continuing battle against HIV and AIDS.
• Simona's Story by Beverly Bartlett.
  Simona lives in Bucharest, Romania. She is nine years old and HIV-positive. When Simona's mother found out about her illness five years ago, her first reaction was to tell everyone, looking for support. "That's when I found out who really was my friend, and who wasn't," she said. "Quite a few people stopped visiting me and asked their children not to play with Simona anymore.
• More Inspirational Stories of People Living with AIDS.

Worship Resources

• Church Bulletin Insert: How the Children Hold On in the Midst of the AIDS Pandemic (2004).
• World AIDS 2004 Worship Resources, General Board of Church and Society.
• Who Will Break The Silence? Liturgical Resources for The Healing of AIDS excerpted from Who Will Break The Silence, Liturgical Resources for The Healing of AIDS published by the Balm in Gilead.
• World AIDS Day United Methodist official statement.
• World AIDS Day 2001 Worship Resources: God Cares, I Care, Do You?
• Worship Resources for World AIDS Day 2000: AIDS, Men Make a Difference.
• Worship Resources for World AIDS Day 1999: Listen, Learn, Live!
• Worship Resources For World AIDS Day. Even more materials.
• Other Websites.
• Beads of Hope: Worship Resources for World AIDS Day, United Church of Canada, 2003.
• World AIDS Day: A Model for Children's Participation, United Church of Canada, 2003.