12/1 - World AIDs Day

With all of the excitement about moving yesterday, we missed posting on a topic that is very near to our hearts - World Aids Day.

HIV can be stopped.

Children who have been orphaned because of HIV and orphans with the disease, MUST be cared for to help end this vicious cycle!

Susan Hillis, PhD. (CDC, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion) has been one of my favorite speakers at the annual Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit for several years now. She is an authority on the state of the orphan population, when it comes to HIV. She shares that the orphan population will be the next great wave of infected individuals, because of the increased risk and vulnerability that predisposes them to the disease. 

 HIV and Orphans Facts

 • Worldwide, there are 16-million orphans due to HIV.

 • In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 70% of all orphans are orphaned due to HIV.

 • About 14.8 million AIDS orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa. 

 • In 2009, 370,000 children became newly infected with HIV globally.

 • And an estimated 42,000–60,000 pregnant women died because of HIV. In contrast, in high-income countries the number of new HIV infections among children and maternal and child deaths due to HIV was virtually zero. 

Carolyn Twietmeyer and her family have revolutionized the information, process and resources available for adopting children with special needs, especially HIV, through Project Hopeful. 

What can you do? 

                  Here are some ideas...

Simple Things Churches Around the World Can Do for Children

• Keep their mother alive, through early HIV diagnosis, treatment, and support;

• Provide treatment to mother and child even before the child is born if the 

mother is HIV positive;

• Follow the latest treatment guidelines which include things like C-section delivery;

• If the child is orphaned due to HIV, find a RELATIVE or NEW FAMILY who will legally adopt the child for life. GIVE AN ORPHAN WHAT THEY NEED MOST: A FAMILY. Every believer can GIVE to children who are orphaned due to AIDS by SPONSORING A FAMILY WHO IS WILLING TO ADOPT;

• Give to campaigns which help families adopt at www.hivaidsinitiative.com; 

• Consider adopting a child who is living with HIV. 

                                   -from Saddleback Church's HIV/AIDs initiative