Originally published in German as: AIDS : Eine Krankheit verander die Welt : Daten, Fakten, Hintergrunde. Frankfurt: Verlag Otto Lembeck, 2003.
Includes bibliography: p. 110-118.
This book "is an offering to churches and the world -- a significant and vital addition to the continuum of knowledge -- that will greatly assist churches to be effective and efficient in the struggle to overcome HIV/AIDS. It is a compilation of historical, scientific and statistical material aimed at providing churches and their partners with a better understanding of the dynamics of HIV/AIDS as well as current information to aid in collaborative efforts at answering the challenge of the disease. .... On a practical level this response is deliberately multi-faceted and interactive, encouraging churches and Christian service organizations to build and support coalitions dedicated to overcoming this epidemic". -- Preface.
Contents: Preface / Samuel Kobia, General Secretary, World Council of Churches -- Introduction / Sonja Weinreich and Christoph Benn --.Natural history and HIV transmission -- Global, regional and country-specific spread of HIV/AIDS -- Vulnerable population groups -- Gender equity -- Children -- Young people -- Socio-economic context -- Stigma and discrimination --Human rights -- People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) -- Prevention -- Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) -- Care -- Antiretroviral therapy -- HIV/AIDS on the international agenda -- Advocacy and lobbying -- Culture and tradition -- Churches, theology and HIV/AIDS -- Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS -- Literature.
"Something is eluding us in the fight against AIDS. When travelling through southern and eastern Africa it is impossible to dodge the dour reality of how AIDS is annihilating the community life of village and neighbourhoods, once the cornerstone and strength of the African way of life". Young men and women who are exposed to the facts about HIV and AIDS from skilled educators are still becoming infected. The author visited and spoke with community workers in South Africa. She also visited SALAMA a PWRDF partner in Nampula, Mozambique, with very explicit education and awareness programs. "Program Coordinator Yolanda Napoleao was quite candid in saying information and knowledge is not enough, Stopping AIDS is about a personal journey that includes changing behaviour. Educators find it hard to know what triggers the change". In Nairobi, Kenya, the author visited Crisis Pregnancy Ministries of Kenya (CPMK), a small faith-based NGO which emphasizes abstinence. "Secular NGOs and governments are doing a great job as they focus on the technical aspects of the problem: treatment, use of condoms, protected sex, rights of women to negotiate safe sex, etc. But as many educators assert, it is behavioural change, specifically young men's behaviour, that will ultimately have a greater impact in the battle against AIDS. CPMK puts the onus on teens to change their behaviour. And an answer to what is eluding us in the fight against AIDS among youth might just be there. Given all the information and options, young teens might be better equipped to choose a life path that leads to change because they respect life and know that AIDS kills".
"This article is the first in a series". The author is "Development Program Coordinator: Africa, Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. She recently returned from a PWRDF partners visit to South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique."
Sermon by the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, at the 10th anniversary service, held at the Guards Chapel, Westminster, to celebrate the life of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. "At a time when people are suspicious of rhetoric, the monarchy communicates by symbol and simple speech and the Princess brought her own gifts to this work. She was still only 26 when she shook the hand of a patient at the opening of the Middlesex Hospital's AIDS ward, the first in the UK. It is hard now to credit the degree of fear and prejudice which surrounded AIDS in the eighties. Those familiar with the field have no doubt that the Princess played a significant part in overcoming a harmful and even cruel taboo is a gesture which was not choreographed but sprang from a deep identification with those who were vulnerable and on the margin". "Her work in the very last year of her life for the victims of landmines also caught the popular imagination internationally and certainly accelerated the adoption of the Ottawa Convention, banning the use of weapon which disproportionately kills and maims women and children. She proved the eloquence of embrace and touch which of course have been used by royal healers through the centuries. And as she said 'the biggest disease today is not leprosy or TB but the feeling of being unwanted'." "Let this service mark the point at which we let her rest in peace and dwell on her memory with thanksgiving and compassion while we pray in the words of St. Paul for all those who serve our country as members of the Royal Family and most especially for the sons who were so precious to her".