Value - Involvement in the HIV/ AIDS work is a walk of faith for each participating presbytery, congregation, and individual (in Africa and in the US) and this walk results in mutually discerned and spirit-lead participation between all parties.

Work Objectives:

1. Increase knowledge of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.
2. Increase funding to support PC(USA) Partner Church AIDS projects in Africa.
3. Advocate for global political changes and cultural changes, named by our partners, that work to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Process - Each Presbyterian AIDS Action Committee will convene from one of the Worldwide Ministries Related Mission Networks and be composed of 2-10 congregations and/or presbyteries.
Participants of each Committee will decide the actual structure and mode of function of the Committee.

Working in collaboration with the East/Southern and West/Central AIDS Field Consultants in Africa (2 PC(USA) missionaries), the Ecumenical and Mission Partnerships Office staff , and the AIDS Core Team the WMD AIDS Project Manager will help create appropriate links between each Partner Church and the associated Presbyterian AIDS Action Committee in the USA. The same staff will help facilitate the creation of a 3-5 year contract which will describe the responsibilities of the particular Partner Church in Africa to implement the mutually agreed upon HIV/AIDS prevention, care and/or support project, and the responsibilities of the group in the U.S. to visit, interpret, raise funds for, pray for and participate in other ways in the development of the project. Mobilization of resources (including funds) in Africa and the US to meet the tremendous needs, however, will be an essential activity for the successful implementation of the AIDS projects.

The AIDS Project Manager will help coordinate activities and the dissemination of HIV/AIDS information and resources to all Presbyterians and to congregations and presbyteries participating in Presbyterian AIDS Action Committees in order to facilitate the interpretation of their HIV/AIDS projects. The Coordinator will also collect information from these partnership projects in order to promote them as examples of trans-Atlantic Christian collaboration around HIV/AIDS.

AIDS and Poverty:

Effective responses to the HIV/AIDS crisis must ultimately address the poverty that fuels the epidemic in developing countries. Successful poverty reduction in these countries will require resolve by government and civil society to mobilize adequate resources to address the diseases of poverty (HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB). Faith based communities in the North and South can play an important role in alleviating the suffering from these diseases. The leadership of Christian organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa which (up to 50% of the health care to the rural poor is provided by theses organizations in some countries) and the support by Christians in the US and Europe can increase the international awareness of the global poverty. This international awareness should lead to strategies to increase resources to combat diseases which worsen poverty.

Malawi Vice-President Justin Malewezi opened the Africa Regional Consultation in Nov. 2001 on the Global Fund in Lilongwe, Malawi with the following words, "Every minute we have been sitting in this room, ten people have died of the three diseases: HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This translates to 15,000 people a day. This is not only appalling and tragic, it is scandalous. It is scandalous because we have the knowledge, the technology and the resources to address the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but have not yet mobilized sufficient political will to prevent and treat these diseases in a comprehensive manner and on a scale commensurate with the devastation facing the human family." In 2002, Vice-President Malewezi also participated in a workshop organized by our Partner Church in Malawi to mobilize pastors to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in their own communities.