HIV and AIDS and Malaria

 

We celebrate the completion of the Stand With Africa campaign and build upon its success through special new emphases on malaria, HIV, and AIDS.

girl nurse and boy man

Continuing our commitment to Africa:
In 2001, Lutherans in the U.S. launched Stand With Africa. It was a campaign of hope aimed at banishing hunger, overcoming HIV and AIDS, and building peace. Thank you for offering your Stand With Africa gifts and for your continued faithful support of ELCA World Hunger.

The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly celebrated the achievements of Stand With Africa. Over these eight years, ELCA members raised nearly $5.5 million for Stand With Africa. That is in addition to $35 million from regular ELCA World Hunger giving that was invested in hunger-fighting ministry in Africa during that time.
HIV and AIDS Strategy

Now you are invited to support a new ELCA initiative that builds on the successful ministries developed through Stand With Africa and the core hunger-fighting work of ELCA World Hunger. The 2009 Churchwide Assembly voted overwhelmingly to launch a new churchwide strategy that calls for ministry with people affected by HIV and AIDS worldwide.

To make a gift* designated for ministry with people affected by HIV and AIDS, note "HIV and AIDS" in the memo line of your check and send it to: ELCA World Hunger, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago, IL 60694-1764.

*Note: Gifts and bequests received for Stand With Africa after 2009 will continue to be used to support the work of ELCA World Hunger in Africa.
Lutheran Malaria Initiative

The Churchwide Assembly also approved the development of a Lutheran Malaria Initiative by 2011. This is an effort to educate U.S. Lutherans about malaria, advocate for global health initiatives, and raise funds to help combat malaria. The ELCA is collaborating with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Lutheran World Relief to mobilize the nearly 8 million Lutherans in the United States to join the battle against malaria -- a preventable and treatable disease that kills more than one million people a year.

Throughout November 2009, follow along with an ELCA delegation as they travel to South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Read stories and watch video on the LMI blog at http://blogs.elca.org/lmi/.   
Special focus on diseases intensified by poverty

Lutheran churches across Africa are recognized worldwide as innovators and experts in Christian response to HIV and AIDS. Two-thirds of people living with HIV reside in sub-Saharan Africa, and Lutheran Africans are leading the way toward faithful response to the reality of AIDS. Your gifts will help our sisters and brothers in Africa continue and expand their work.

Here are some examples:

• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania is a recognized leader in extending health care to rural villages, caring for orphans, and providing community-based hospice care.

• The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus continues to help people rebuild community life after many villages were uprooted by drought and famine. As communities come together around water, livestock, and agriculture projects, HIV testing and education is incorporated into community life.

• The Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa has already trained hundreds of pastors in clinical pastoral care and counseling for people affected by AIDS and has coordinated hundreds of church projects related to HIV testing, counseling, youth education, and care for community members living with HIV or AIDS.

Your gifts to ELCA World Hunger also support a wide range of ministries with people affected by HIV and AIDS in Latin America, Asia, and the United States.
Responding to HIV and AIDS in the United States

Since HIV and AIDS were first recognized in the United States in 1981, AIDS has claimed over 550,000 lives. While antiretroviral drugs allow many individuals carrying HIV to live healthy, productive lives, serious challenges remain in addressing the AIDS crisis in the United States. The number of individuals newly diagnosed with HIV annually—56,300—has remained constant since the late 1990s. As a result, the total number of individuals living with HIV and AIDS continues to increase; currently, about 1.2 million people are living with HIV or AIDS in the U.S. It is estimated that nearly one-quarter of those living with HIV or AIDS are not aware of their status, putting themselves and others at greater risk.

The ELCA believes a world is possible where new cases of HIV are prevented and all individuals with HIV or AIDS are able to live with dignity. The realization of this vision will require long-term, focused, and intentional engagement by churches, other faith groups, nongovernmental organizations, civil society organizations and institutions, governments, international organizations, the private sector, and individuals of good will. With over 4.7 million members and more than 10,400 congregations in the United States, in addition to relationships with 68.3 million Lutherans worldwide, the ELCA has the potential to contribute in ways proportionate to its wealth, size, and assets, to the following goals of the wider human community:

  • To halt the spread of HIV through effective prevention, treatment, and care.
  • To eliminate the stigma and discrimination experienced by those who are HIV-positive.
  • To reduce the conditions of poverty and marginalization that contribute to the spread of HIV.
>Learn more and download the full text of the ELCA HIV and AIDS strategy.
HIV and AIDS, Africa resources