by Diane Marshall, SIM International Champion for HIV and AIDS
7 February 2006
Reality Check #1: The Statistics are Staggering
- More than 39.4 million people are currently living with HIV. Ninety per cent of those infected with HIV don't even know it.
- Over three million people died of AIDS in 2004. (That's the equivalent in deaths of a tsunami about every 36 days.)
- More than 12.3 million African children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
- Life expectancy in Africa has dropped to 47 years instead of the predicted 62 years without AIDS.
- Countries in Eastern Europe and East Asia are experiencing the fastest growing HIV rates.
- Women and girls are physically more susceptible to HIV/AIDS than men.
Reality Check # 2: SIM-related HIV/AIDS Ministries Are Making a Difference
- Ethiopia: In partnership with SIM, the Ethiopian Kale-Heywet Church's Addis Ababa Voluntary Counseling and Testing Center has been running at maximum capacity since its inauguration in October 2004, counseling and testing almost 2,000 clients in the first six months. Due to the credibility of the church's work, the Medical Director of the Addis Ababa Health Bureau has asked the church to cover the entire city with its prevention of mother-to-child transmission program. For more about AIDS work in Ethiopia, see New AIDS Center Opens in Addis Ababa.
- Niger: Antiretroviral drugs, which improve the quality of life for those living with HIV, are now available at the SIM-related Galmi Hospital. Government sources provide these drugs.
- South Africa: The Evangelical Church of South Africa's "Project Positive Ray" is working in five factories and three schools reaching around 2000 people per week in its prevention program. For more about AIDS work in South Africa, see From Bitter to Sweet.
- Burkina Faso: The SIM-related church in Burkina Faso is implementing a detailed strategy for addressing HIV/AIDS which includes training of church leadership and development of voluntary counseling and testing centres linked to existing health care clinics.
*[UNAIDS 2004 Report (www.unaids.org); Children on the Brink 2004 (www.unicef.org)]
