On this World AIDS Day, there is encouraging news coming from numerous places that progress is being made both to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and to help those with the disease live longer, fuller lives.
HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence that it used to be, especially in impoverished places like much of Africa. Baptist Press (BP) reports that although AIDS claims 4,000 lives in sub-Saharan Africa every day, medicine and ministry are saving many more and allowing people to live lives that a few years ago weren’t possible. “We’ve seen people get up off their sick bed and walk. The greater availability of antiretroviral therapy is saving lives,” said International Mission Board Zambia missionary Troy Lewis in the BP report.
There is greater cooperation today between ministries, churches, non-governmental organizations and governments to educate, test and treat for HIV/AIDS.
Across Africa, ministries that have traditionally focused solely on evangelism and church planting are now including HIV/AIDS education as part of their outreach. e3 Partners Ministry, for example, is a church planting ministry that has broadened into HIV/AIDS education through the development and use of the Hope Cube.
The Hope Cube, similar to an evangelistic tool developed by e3 Partners called the EvangeCube, resembles a Rubik Cube and utilizes pictures to educate and present facts about HIV/AIDS. The Hope Cube simplifies training and makes it easier for more people to get educated about disease prevention and how to care for those who do contract HIV. The ministry also provides mobile HIV testing clinics as part of its short-term church planting campaigns.
In Tanzania, where misinformation about HIV/AIDS is rampant and those infected are often cut off from society, the African Inland Church is beginning to see changes both in behavior and in attitudes towards those with HIV/AIDS. Through its church-centered community development work, the denomination is breaking down barriers that once prevented HIV infected individuals from getting care. They also are teaching micro-business skills to these individuals so that they can financially support themselves.