by Nigel Marsh - Hope Communications

BARCELONA, July 11, 2002

A massive campaign of public education may be all that will stir up people in the West to support the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing nations, said World Vision Hope Initiative leader Ken Casey today.

"We are 20 years into this pandemic, we are seeing deaths on an unprecedented scale, and it's getting worse," said Casey. "Research published in the Washington Post at the start of the week suggested that the American public isn't willing to help much more, thinking the problem is not their own. I'd say that attitude is reflected in other developed nations to some degree.

"But this is not someone else's problem - it's my problem. It's a tragedy of the human family. If my wife and kids were affected I'd try to help, and I'd be wanting the richest nations of the world to help, too."

The research in the Washington Post suggests most Americans doubt that additional money spent on fighting AIDS will slow its spread in Africa and the developing world; and two thirds of Americans think their government is spending enough or too much on the disease.

The survey, conducted by the Post together with the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, notes that 74% of the public supports President George W Bush's proposed three year, $500m increase in spending on fighting the virus. But it also reveals a public sense that Africans' 'stubborn reluctance' to abandon unsafe sex, coupled with poverty and bad governance, plays a more important part than money.

One ray of hope in the report was that 59% of Americans acknowledge they need to know more before finally making up their minds; and at least some realize that an uncontrolled spread of HIV around the world will eventually impact the West with higher infection rates. And it echoes one conclusion of the equally pessimistic Barna Report (commissioned earlier by World Vision); the black and Latino communities are more likely to want to help than the white population.

"I think we've got to help people realize that this is an emergency of global, historic proportions, and whether or not it infects someone I know, or makes my stock portfolio collapse, I have a duty to do something for the human family," said Casey. "This is especially true for our partners in churches around the world. It's an opportunity to demonstrate that Christians live by love, that we are members of one human race and one Body of Christ. If we believe that, we have a responsibility."

It is weak thinking for anyone to say 'Africa is out there and it doesn't affect me', said Casey, and not an option for Christians called to love their neighbors.

"Africa can't fight this alone, the church can't fight it alone, and World Vision can't fight it alone - we need partnerships," he said. And it's certainly not something we can afford to leave to the research companies, the governments and the political activists. It's something for which each one of us needs to take responsibility."

The AIDS pandemic is going to bring such change that it will define the start of the 21st century in much of the world, and the church of this generation will be measured by history according to how it responds, he added.

"World Vision is the values-driven organization, and we aren't waiting for public opinion to make it easy for us to raise money.

"We are going to lead and shape global public opinion if we have to - that's the road that's been laid before us right now. It's not always popular to be the innovator, the opinion changer, and we will get some criticism. But we must do the right thing."