"By the end of the year 2000, 36.1 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS, 90 percent in developing countries and 75 percent in sub-Saharan Africa." (From the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.)
The majority of people living with HIV/AIDS in our world are in Africa, yet currently, the anti-retrovirus drugs they need are not available to most of them. When people in Africa test positive for the HIV virus, healthcare workers have nothing to give them to prolong their lives, to help ward off opportunistic infections, or to prevent pregnant women from transmitting the virus to their babies. The United Methodist Health and Welfare Ministries (H&W) and UMCOR are working to change that.
H&W staff are exploring a new initiative to provide care to persons with HIV/AIDS. They are negotiating with a pharmaceutical company in South Africa to provide anti-retrovir drugs for an UMCOR/H&W program.
Plans are being developed to make the United Methodist Hospital in Mutare, Zimbabwe, a center for HIV/AIDS care. In conjunction with the new Hospital Revitalization program of the General Board of Global Ministries, H&W would provide HIV/AIDS testing, drugs for those who test positive, training for physicians in how to administer and monitor these powerful drugs and management for the distribution of the drugs. In addition, community workers would be trained to provide counseling and pastoral care, to lead support groups, to go into communities and let people know that resources are available and to train people to care for persons with HIV/AIDS safely and properly in their own homes.
The new Healthy Homes Healthy Families Kit will be a valuable resource for the family caregivers. If this pilot program is
successful, it will be expanded to other locations in
Zimbabwe and other African countries.
In June, heads and representatives of states and governments along with leaders of churches and many humanitarian organizations assembled at the United Nations for a special session of the General Assembly to review and address the problem of HIV/AIDS. The assembly noted that HIV/AIDS has created a state of emergency in sub-Saharan Africa, threatening development, social cohesion, political stability, food security, and life expectancy. HIV/AIDS imposes a devastating economic burden and calls for "urgent and exceptional national, regional, and international action."
H&W and UMCOR have been working in many ways to support and implement HIV/AIDS programs in Africa that address prevention and provide education, care, leadership development, and material and pharmaceutical support. United Methodists also support community initiatives to care for AIDS orphans. Providing anti-retrovirus drugs is another way to address the concerns about AIDS orphans. The drugs will enable parents to live longer, healthier lives, thus giving them the chance to raise their children.
Please support this critical work of UMCOR and H&W. Give generously to Advance #982345-7, "Global HIV/AIDS Program Development."
