Episcopal Relief and Development remembers World AIDS Day 2005. New statistics indicate that the number of people living with HIV globally continues to rise and impact more communities around the world. Today, more than 40 million people are living with HIV, the highest ever. Worldwide, more than three million people, 500,000 of which were children, died from AIDS-related illnesses this year.

ERD’s HIV/AIDS programs are working with Anglican and ecumenical partners in communities devastated by the disease around the world. Our programs provide prevention education, care for people affected by the disease, and support the children left behind and their extended families. In sub Saharan Africa where AIDS is pandemic, ERD is actively working in countries such as Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, and Swaziland. In Latin America, two million people are living with the virus. The Caribbean is the second most affected region in the world as measured by HIV/AIDS prevalence. Within Latin America and the Caribbean, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, and Brazil are among the hardest-hit nations, some with prevalence rates of over 2%. ERD is expanding its work in countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil, and Peru.

“Our partnerships are working hard to reduce stigma and discrimination for those who have HIV, serving in the Anglican and Episcopal hospitals and clinics to treat people with HIV, creating jobs and income generating opportunities for people who have no where else to go, and education young people and teachers in schools and community centers,” said Abagail Nelson, ERD’s Vice President for Program.

On November 11, ERD hosted the first Anglican Conference on HIV/AIDS in conjunction with the III Latin American and Caribbean Forum of HIV/AIDS/STD and CONCASIDA 2005 in San Salvador, El Salvador. The ERD-sponsored Anglican conference brought together representatives from HIV/AIDS projects in Honduras, Belize, Uruguay, Peru, Costa Rica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador. Conference participants dialogued, sharing stories and information about HIV/AIDS programs in their respective countries. The Forum and CONCASIDA took place from November 7- 11.

“There is a new way of being a Church, not that of being exceptional, but rather walking hand in hand, side by side with those that live with HIV/AIDS,” said the Rev. David Limo, Executive Director of the Rosa Blanca Ecumenical Center in Peru.

“In our programs throughout Latin American and the Caribbean and other parts of the world, ERD will continue to develop programs that lift people into dignity, and empower them…eradicating the conditions of injustice in which HIV/AIDS and other health crises thrive,” said Nelson.

To learn more about this conference and Episcopal Relief and Development’s HIV/AIDS programs worldwide, please visit http://www.er-d.org/. A bulletin insert in commemoration of World AIDS Day is available in the “Resource Center” at http://www.er-d.org/.

If you are interested in helping people devastated by HIV/AIDS, donate to the HIV/AIDS Fund at http://www.er-d.org/, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, HIV/AIDS Fund, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101-5043.