Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day; a day when many reflect on the ongoing fight against HIV and AIDS.
Working through the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, the Presbyterian Church joined churches around the world to encourage governments to meet their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and to fund the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which, among other things, provides funds for AIDS drugs to PCC partner hospitals in Malawi and India. After governments renewed their commitments to the MDGs last September, pledges for the global fund made in October fell $2 billion short of what is needed to continue current treatments.
Over half of those currently on treatment receive it through services funded by the global fund. A June study commissioned by the EAA showed that faith-based organizations providing AIDS services were already experiencing reduced funding – a significant trend when taken with previous data showing that faith-based organizations provide up to 70 per cent of health care in rural and poorly resourced areas. The majority of organizations in the study indicated they could not add new patients to treatment regimes.
Now the EAA is helping churches and faith-based organizations work together to prepare for the UN’s special session on HIV and AIDS in June 2011, where they hope to convince governments of the need to live up to their commitments.
“With the support of Canadian Presbyterians we are helping our partners equip communities to respond, from caring for orphans and vulnerable children to preventing the spread of HIV to fighting stigma and discrimination,” said Susan James, Presbyterian World Service and Development program coordinator for Africa.
Worship resources for use around World AIDS Day are available at presbyterian.ca. – Karen Plater, associate secretary for Stewardship at the PCC, and vice-chair of the EAA’s HIV and AIDS strategy group
