World AIDS Day, December 1
LPTS will observe the day with a unique worship service this morning at 10:00 a.m. in Caldwell Chapel. The Cultural Diversity Committee will screen the award-winning film Philadelphia, to be followed by discussion of key issues raised by the film.
According to the UN 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, “Women account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide, and nearly 60% of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa,” a region which “continues to bear a disproportionate share of the global burden of HIV . . .” Sub-Saharan Africa “is home to 67% of all people living with HIV.”
In large measure, AIDS is a disease of “the least;” it afflicts people who have been neglected, marginalized, coerced physically or financially, and then silenced by the stigma that still attaches to HIV/AIDS infection. Concern for people living with HIV/AIDS, action to relieve suffering caused by HIV/AIDS, and commitment to progress in ending the epidemic, are all concrete expressions of Christian commitment to justice as well as compassion.
Some resources for World AIDS Day:
2008 World AIDS Day theme statement
Download UN 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, Ch. 2 Status of the Global HIV Epidemic
Fact Sheets on AIDS from US Dept. of Health and Human Services
Presbyterian AIDS Network portal
PCUSA International AIDS Ministries
December 1, 2008 at 5:34 am
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