WORLD AIDS DAY - KEEP THE PROMISE

This past summer my daughter Abby and I visited with my parents in northern Wisconsin. This was the place where they both were born and raised. One beautiful afternoon we took a walk through a small town cemetery. It was fascinating to read the names on the tombstones and I was amazed at how many names I recognized. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts – I paused to stop and give thanks for their lives. But one stopped me in my tracks – it was the grave site of one of my cousins, a man just a few years older than I – and a life cut short by HIV/AIDS.

Today is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is a yearly, global event started in January 1988 to promote awareness and action in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS estimates, there were 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children worldwide living with HIV at the end of 2004. During the year 4.9 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world. In Africa alone, more than 17 million people have died from AIDS and another 25 million are infected with the HIV virus, approximately 1.9 million of whom are children. Every day in Africa, HIV/AIDS kills 6,300 people. 8,500 people are infected with the HIV virus and 1,400 newborn babies are infected during childbirth.

This year, the theme of World AIDS Day is "Stop Aids: Keep the Promise" which reminds us that our government leaders need to be held accountable for their commitments to the fight against AIDS and act in order to delivered the promised results. (taken from the ONE website).

I invite you to take a few minutes today to listen to the "The World AIDS Day ONEcast" which features former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, Bono, U2 lead singer and co-founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade for Africa), Chris Martin of Coldplay, and author and Christian leader Tony Campolo.

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