As we struggle to understand the “war on terror” and the various ethnic and religious conflicts that dot our global landscape, it is easy to overlook our greatest global challenge – the HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS morphed from a crisis of the gay, white male population in the United States to a disease of epic, Biblical proportion in the developing world, primarily Sub Saharan Africa. For much of the late eighties and nineties, AIDS raged silently in eastern and southern Africa and infection rates surged to alarming rates. The rest of the world slowly awoke to a continent under siege: millions infected and dying, overburdened health systems and decades of development gains in reversal as life expectancy plummeted.
We must now contend with HIV as the leading cause of death world wide among those aged 15-59, already claiming 25 million lives and orphaning 15 million children. An estimated 40 million people are infected worldwide. Sub Saharan Africa is home to two-thirds of those living with HIV and over 90 percent of children infected with HIV. One in five South Africans is living with HIV. While Sub Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the epidemic, there are also the “second wave” nations of China, India and Russia, which have the fastest growing epidemics in the world.
The statistics are overwhelming and the actual realities on the ground are much worse.
Suffice it to say that it is difficult for IM missionaries serving on the African continent to not come face to face with the reality of HIV/AIDS each and every day. IM missionaries confront AIDS in hospitals and clinics where the numbers of adults dying in the prime of their lives nearly equates the number of newborns who enter life born with this disease. AIDS is present in our schools where in some countries half of the teachers are HIV positive and dying; HIV/AIDS is in our churches where funeral services now surpass worship services. AIDS has infiltrated the fabric of rural communities where married women; often the innocent partner in an unfaithful relationship become infected and then ousted from their home as if they were somehow to blame. In urban settings AIDS has thrust children in the tens of thousands into the streets, children whose parents died from the disease and are now being forced to live hand to mouth, begging in the streets; as if they too were responsible for their parent’s demise.
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. How are we to face such unprecedented global needs? The key lies in prevention. Yes, we have an obligation to those infected with HIV/AIDS; an obligation to provide care to sustain life and alleviate suffering. But we also have an obligation to the billions at risk; to the unborn babies and to their mothers to diminish maternal-fetal transmission; to school age children; to keep them safe and informed and to help create a milieu where abstinence and faithfulness become the norm and not the exception. We need to dispel the many mistruths about how AIDS is transmitted, carried and cured…. and to break the silence around HIV/ AIDS in communities, cultures and churches.
Yet with little resources, and in the midst of debilitating poverty and unthinkable odds, churches in Africa -- and around the world -- are acting heroically to serve on the frontlines. They have labored largely in obscurity and with insufficient help. We, as part of the Body of Christ, must join their ranks.
-- Diana Millner and Bill Clemmer
Diana Millner is the executive director of Save Africa's Children -- a ministry that cares for orphans infected and or affected by HIV/AIDS. She is the wife of managing editor Rev. Marlon Millner
Because of the sensitive nature of the topic covered in this article, and the legal ramifications, International Ministries prohibits the reproduction of any pictures contained herein without its expressed, written permission. The exception is the reprinting of the bulletin inserts for distribution solely for worship or Christian education. To receive permission, email marlon.millner@abc-usa.org