Rising child mortality rates and falling life expectancies due to AIDS mean that much of the progress made fighting poverty in recent decades is being lost. In areas hardest-hit by HIV and AIDS, an emerging middle class is being pushed below the poverty line by loss of income and exorbitant medical bills.
Few of the poorest families can afford to see a doctor. Even fewer can afford AIDS medications. When children lose parents to AIDS, grandparents often become guardians. If the grandparents are gone, older children must drop out of school to look after their younger siblings.
In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 22 million people are living with HIV. In this region, the adult rate of HIV infection is six times higher than it is in the rest of the world. What’s more, around 60 percent of those living with HIV are women. In part because of cultural limitations on female rights and freedoms, more African women are infected than men.
Because of a lack of education, false and dangerous rumors about AIDS are spread in many developing countries. Some insist, for example, that HIV is caught through witchcraft; that AIDS can be cured by having sex with a virgin; and that if you feel healthy, you can’t be HIV-positive.
What’s worse, the stigma surrounding AIDS leads many to deny their HIV status or even refuse testing. Without a change in understanding, they often continue to exhibit behaviors that spread the virus to others.
Yes. While AIDS has devastated millions of African families, there are signs of hope. Uganda was the first country to report a decline in cases of infection. Since 1991, Uganda’s infection rate has dropped from 15 percent to 5.4 percent.
Similar successes have been seen in Rwanda, Kenya, Senegal, and urban areas of Zimbabwe, as well as countries in the Caribbean and Asia. Through values-based prevention training and community-based care, we CAN help turn the tide on HIV and AIDS.
By sponsoring a HopeChild for $35 or more per month, you can provide life-saving help and lasting hope to a child living in a community devastated by HIV and AIDS. Your ongoing support will reflect God’s love by providing your sponsored child and his or her community with access to:
For nearly two decades, World Vision has been helping to turn the tide against AIDS worldwide by caring for orphans and vulnerable children, preventing the spread of HIV with education based on the principles of abstinence and faithfulness, and advocating for programs that save lives and transform communities affected by AIDS.
World Vision works to help children and families in communities impacted by AIDS by partnering with community groups, including churches and other HIV and AIDS volunteer organizations. We have the unique advantage of being able to reach, help, and mobilize as many community members as possible, and effectively meet the pressing needs of orphans and other vulnerable children.
By sponsoring a child whose life has been affected by HIV and AIDS, you can shine hope in the midst of this crisis. As a HopeChild sponsor, you will receive a welcome kit in the mail that will introduce you to your sponsored child, and help you understand the world he or she lives in.
You will also receive annual progress reports with updates about your sponsored child. Thank you for choosing to make a difference in the life of a child in need, and please pray for all these precious children.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
World Vision provides hope and assistance to approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries. In communities around the world, we join with local people to break the cycle of poverty for children and families in need.
In 2008, 87 percent of World Vision’s total revenue was used for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need.
