About the HIV and AIDS fund
Download a handout on the HIV and AIDS fund
AIDS has claimed the lives of more than 25 million people worldwide. More than 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost a parent to AIDS. In the countries hardest hit by HIV, life expectancy has declined by 20 years, poverty has deepened, and economic growth has been reversed.
But amid the sobering realities of HIV and AIDS there is cause for great hope.
Prevention efforts are working: HIV infection rates are declining in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world. Access to antiretroviral medications has increased dramatically and since 2004, the number of deaths from AIDS has been steadily decreasing. Treatment is now available in developing countries for about $140 a year. These medicines are keeping parents alive to care for their children and preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Through ELCA World Hunger efforts, including the Stand With Africa campaign, we have worked with partners across Africa and throughout the world for more than a decade to develop innovative and successful models for HIV and AIDS ministry. The ELCA has developed its own comprehensive strategy on HIV and AIDS to guide future work both with global companions and in our local communities.
In the communities where we are at work, we are seeing real progress in efforts to:
- halt the spread of HIV through effective prevention, treatment, and care.
- eliminate the stigma and discrimination experienced by those who are HIV-positive.
- reduce the conditions of poverty that contribute to the spread of HIV.
Through our global network of HIV and AIDS ministry partners, we are well-positioned to scale up our investment in this work in order to save more lives. We can point to so many success stories, and yet the need is still great.
By 2015, ELCA World Hunger seeks to raise $10 million in additional funding to support critical HIV and AIDS ministries, more than doubling our present level of investment. Your gift to the ELCA World Hunger HIV and AIDS fund will enable many key partners to increase capacity and expand their outreach and services. Thank you.
How to give:
by mail: ELCA World Hunger – HIV and AIDS fund
P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764
online: www.elca.org/aids/donate
by phone: 800-638-3522
Learn about the ministries your gifts make possible.