World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day - a reminder that AIDS is still killing people and devestating lives. Since AIDS first emerged in the 1980s, it has taken the lives of over 25 MILLION people. Most of these people were between 20 - 40 years old, the age of workers and parents. The result is that millions of children are orphaned, and family and national economies are tragically scarred.

In 2007, 2.1 MILLION men, women, and children lost their lives to AIDS-related illness. Also in 2007, UNAIDS and WHO estimates that 2.5 MILLION people were newly infected with HIV, with 70% of those new infections in Africa.

There are now 33 MILLION people living with HIV around the world. To give you an idea of how many people that is, the population of Texas is only 24 million.

Most of these 33 million people are expected to die within the next ten years, leaving their children as orphans.

In Uganda alone (where we work), there are 2.5 million orphans from all causes (15% of all children). 1.2 MILLION of those were orphaned because of AIDS. There are an estimated 130,000 children in Uganda living with HIV, with only 8,532 of them receiving antiretroviral treatments.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." The number of orphans will continue to rise, and we must rise to the challenge by making orphan care a part of our daily lives.

We must do all that we can to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. We must encourage and help those already infected. We must seek better and more reliable treatment for those who need it. We must pray for families and health care systems overwhelmed by the need.

Please do not let this day pass without doing something.