Eyewitness to the Tragedy of AIDS in Africa

[Jamila]

As World AIDS Day approaches on 1 December, I thought this article from the BBC was very appropriate to post:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3984995.stm

and this one too -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4033419.stm



Personally, I can't understand how people in the developed world can stand aside and watch millions of lives end and millions of the children's futures left behind teeter on the brink of chaos when for spare change we could save some of their lives and keep their families intact.

Anyway, I hope y'all will read these articles and click on the articles on the right side of the pages as they contain some pretty powerful info on the AIDS pandemic, especially in Africa.

THE GOAL IS SOUL.

http://www.globalactionforchildren.org

http://www.unaids.org

[BostonAnne]

Originally posted by Jamila
Personally, I can't understand how people in the developed world can stand aside and watch millions of lives end and millions of the children's futures left behind teeter on the brink of chaos when for spare change we could save some of their lives and keep their families intact.

Neither can I Jamila!

Time for a Bono quote (from HTDAAB collector's book)

2/3 of the world live on less than a dollar a day

We can be

THE

generation that says no to the
band of stupid poverty that
lets a child die for the
cost of a simple immunization
It might take forty years but
History has a way of making
ideas that were once acceptable
look ridiculous....

and I hope he's wrong about the forty years part...

[Dreadsox]

Thanks for the articles, they will be helpful in preparing my wife and I for our church presentation.

[verte76]

Thanks for the links, and I agree with you Jamila, this stuff is way too dangerous to ignore.

[Katey]

I hope he's wrong about the 40 years as well!! And thanks, Jamila

[Jamila]

A very interesting article about what we in the USA can do to help the children left behind by the AIDS pandemic.

Please read and then add your support to this bill before Congress.

The children left behind will thank you for at a new chance at life!

Today's Editorial
Congress has chance to help AIDS orphans


November 29, 2004


Our position is: Congress should approve a bill sponsored by Sen. Lugar that would help millions of orphans worldwide.

As World AIDS Day arrives this week, the progress that is being made offers hope. Yet, a sense of urgency is still needed to protect the millions of lives at risk from the disease.

Although a recent World Health Organization study indicated that infection rates have stabilized in sub-Saharan Africa, the pandemic killed 3 million people worldwide last year. The fear is that it will spread into heavily populated countries like India, China and Russia.

A bill moving through Congress would do much to assist children who have lost their parents to AIDS and other diseases. The Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2004, proposed by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., would provide school meals, reduce or eliminate education fees, protect children's inheritance rights and fund limited health care for children with AIDS.

At least 24.5 million people are infected in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and children are suffering disproportionately. More than 110 million orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Orphans are far more likely to leave school to work.

Lugar's bill represents the right approach. Unfortunately, the odds are against the legislation making it out of Congress before the current lame-duck session ends.

Congress also has reduced a previous U.S. commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, diseases that together kill more than 16,000 people a day. The 2005 omnibus spending bill cuts outlays to the Global Fund by $100 million.

The Global Fund has been an effective conduit in the fight against these dreadful diseases. Supporting its mission and passing an AIDS orphans bill should be high on Congress' agenda next year.

http://www.globalactionforchildren.org

http://www.theglobalfund.org

[Jamila]

http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/198239-5593-021.html

Here is the link to the original article.

THE GOAL IS SOUL....

[BostonAnne]

The African Well Fund is conducting a candlelight vigil in support of World AIDS Day (December 1st).


http://www.africanwellfund.org/candle.html

[blueyedpoet]

Why is it that threads like this get much less of a response than the more controversial ones...like with Michael Moore's name attached? I hope, especially in regards to work with AIDS, politics and differences can be put aside.

[BostonAnne]

Originally posted by blueyedpoet
Why is it that threads like this get much less of a response than the more controversial ones...like with Michael Moore's name attached? I hope, especially in regards to work with AIDS, politics and differences can be put aside.

I always wonder that myself blueyedpoet. I hope everyone checks in for support of World AIDS Day.

[Jamila]

I have always wondered that myself, too.

Thanks for the support, blueyedpoet and Boston Anne.

Every day that we remain silent of the issue of the AIDS pandemic:

1) 8,000 people worldwide will die of AIDS (6,500 of them in Africa)

2) 9,000 people in Africa will become newly infected with the HIV virus

3) 6,000 children will become orphaned by AIDS.

We talk about the plight of others in the world, when the AIDS pandemic has killed more people than any other ONE single cause in human history.

When does the world see the suffering of those that are poor and destitute and die NEEDLESSLY of AIDS as their own Brothers and Sisters?

WE GET TO CARRY EACH OTHER....