World AIDS Day 2012

December first marks World AIDS Day, a time to remember those who have passed and to help raise awareness of the disease and its effects on all of us.

In 2012, the news from the United Nations, taken from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on the battle against AIDS is promising:

• Declining new HIV infections in children
  The area where perhaps most progress is being made is in reducing new HIV infections in children. Half of the global reductions in new HIV infections in the last two years have been among newborn children.
• Fewer AIDS-related deaths
  The report shows that antiretroviral therapy has emerged as a powerful force for saving lives. In the last 24 months the number of people accessing treatment has increased by 63% globally.
• More investments
  The report shows that countries are increasing investments in the AIDS response despite a difficult economic climate. The global gap in resources needed annually by 2015 is now at 30%. In 2011, US$ 16.8 billion was available and the need for 2015 is between US$ 22-24 billion.

But beyond that there are still troubling numbers; in 2011 an estimated 34 million people globally were living with HIV, 2.5 million people became newly infected with HIV and 1.7 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses.

The stigma of HIV and AIDS being a death sentence may be beginning to subside, but the need to be protected and aware of this disease hasn’t.

The World Methodist Council and its Member Churches have a long history of advocacy for both those living with AIDS and church responses to the disease. In our 2011 meeting in Durban, South Africa the Council suggested that each congregation in our world family spend at least 30 minutes discussing HIV and AIDS and identify partners for action, encourage people to undertake testing and to speak out against stigma and discrimination.

The World Methodist Council asks that each member church commit to promote holistic prevention of HIV and to collaborate ecumenically to respond to the challenge.

We will continue to pray, plan and implement strategies to address HIV and AIDS as part of our mission. As we struggle against injustices that fuel the spread of HIV, we remain fully convinced that through Jesus Christ, the Healer of the Nations, we shall overcome.