CRS information officer for West Africa, Lane Hartill, attended this weekend the Pan African Christian AIDS Network Conference in Dakar. CRS Senegal helped organize it. He met Africans from across the continent working on HIV and AIDS issues. But one lady from Liberia
stood out. Here’s her story.

Cynthia Gonleh an HIV positive Liberian talks with at-risk young people, lectures Church groups, and is a frequent guest on radio shows in Monrovia. Photo by Lane Hartill/CRS.

I was at the Pan African Christian AIDS Network Conference yesterday. It’s a gathering of people, most of who are affiliated with the Christian Church, interested in fighting HIV and AIDS in Africa.

The day’s sessions rolled out as expected, and lively discussions got going. In one session on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), a man from South Africa said grandmothers should be included in programs for OVCs because they are often the primary care givers. People nodded in agreement. A woman from Denmark said that orphans need a voice in the decision making process. After all, they know what it’s like to live on the streets, not a bunch of executives in offices. Again, more nods.
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Each year on December 1, we pause to acknowledge World AIDS Day. In the past, we may have attended a memorial service, said a prayer, or lit a candle as we thought of the millions of people who had died and the families that had been so profoundly affected by HIV and AIDS.

But as the global pandemic has changed, so has World AIDS Day. With the advent of new medicines, HIV is no longer a death sentence. The care and treatment provided by groups like CRS allow people living with HIV to lead productive and hopeful lives. In many cases, people on the medications are able to get up from their sick beds and resume dynamic lives, caring for their families and earning a living. And so today World AIDS Day is as much a celebration and a call to action as it is a day of remembrance.

Real progress is being made, and we are all a part of it. The Catholic Church is the world’s largest provider of care for people living with HIV. Catholic Relief Services and its partners are reaching millions of people living with and affected by HIV across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

But World AIDS Day isn’t just about what’s happening in the hardest-hit countries. The virus is very much a part of our own community. The Baltimore metropolitan area, where CRS has its headquarters, has the second-highest rate of HIV diagnoses in the nation, behind only Miami. There are currently more than 32,000 living with HIV or AIDS in our area. Some neighborhoods have rates similar to the most-impacted areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Click here to see the rates in your county.

Maybe you’re not at risk. But what about your friends, your neighbors, your children? On this World AIDS Day, I encourage you to take some time to learn more about the local HIV epidemic. Educate yourself and others. Talk to your kids. Know your status. And make learning about HIV a habit.

World AIDS Day doesn’t end on December 2 – it’s a yearlong campaign, and you can make a difference. To learn more about global efforts to respond to HIV, visit http://www.crs.org/worldaidsday/. If you have questions or need referral to services, call the confidential Baltimore-area HIV hotline at 410-887-AIDS. For general questions or to learn about services in other areas, call the CDC at 1-800-232-4636.

In an op/ed article in the Baltimore Sun, CRS President Ken Hackett discusses the fight against HIV and AIDS, noting successes of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the need to keep full funding intact.

Two CRS caregivers attend the Zambia Caregiver and Volunteer Appreciation Day in Lusaka on Nov. 26. Photo by Paul Macek/CRS.

CRS volunteers were among those honored during Zambia Caregivers Appreciation Day on Nov. 25 which feted some 18,500 people who provide home-based care for HIV and AIDS patients as part of the PEPFAR-funded RAPIDS program.

At the main celebration at a sports complex in the capital Lusaka, CRS country representative Paul Macek introduced caregiver Nora Tabita Chama to the distinguished guests, which included Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, and the U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, Donald Booth.
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Today, World AIDS Day, we are reminded that we are Called to Compassion and Responsibility.

In their 1989 pastoral letter “Called to Compassion and Responsibility: A Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis”, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reminded us of our responsibility as Catholics and citizens of the world to those living with HIV.

Today we remember the men, women and children who are living with HIV in this country and around the world and those who have succumbed to AIDS. In the words of Pope John Paul II, “The love of God is so great that it goes beyond the limits of human language, beyond the grasp of artistic expression, beyond human understanding. And yet it is concretely embodied in God’s son, Jesus Christ and in his Body the Church … God loves you all, without distinction, without limit. He loves those of you who are elderly, who feel the burden of the years. He loves those of you who are sick, those who are suffering from AIDS and from AIDS Related Complex. He loves the relatives and friends of the sick and those who care for them. He loves us all with an unconditional and everlasting love.”

December 1 is World AIDS Day, the day on which we pause to think about the millions of people affected by the HIV pandemic. As the date approaches, we will post a series of entries focusing on our HIV and AIDS programs around the world. Some of the posts will be technical in nature, underscoring the scientific and programmatic foundations of CRS’ work.

Water is basic to all life; without it we can not exist. But for millions of people around the world, clean water is a rare and precious gift. For those living with HIV, clean water and proper sanitation are also a critical part of their care. It is vitally important that they minimize their exposure to germs and bacteria which could make them sick.

CRS, awarded small grants from the World Health Organization (WHO), conducted assessments in Malawi and Zambia on the water and sanitation situation of home-based care clients. The WHO objectives for these grants were to promote advocacy for home-based care and to develop guidance for the health and water and sanitation sectors. The findings from these two country programs’ reports indicate that there is a definite need to look more closely at the water and sanitation needs of home-based care clients.

Water and Sanitation Assessment of Home-Based Care Clients in Zambia (Kangamba, M., Roberts, C., Campbell, J., Service, J. & Adalla, C., 2006)

Water and Sanitation Assessment of Home-Based Care Clients in Malawi (Lockwood, K., Msapato, K., Senefeld, S., Nogi, J., Perrin, P. & Mtika, M., 2006)

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Agriculture and Environment Interventions in Support of HIV Programming (Heinrich, G., Penders, C., Senefeld, S. and Burpee G., 2008) recognizes the challenges faced by CRS country programs in helping individuals, families and communities in rural areas beset with high HIV prevalence.

Many people in rural areas of developing countries who are infected with, and affected by, HIV and AIDS depend on agriculture as a significant component of their livelihood. However, there is limited practical advice to date on how agriculture and environment interventions can be used to strengthen HIV and AIDS prevention and mitigation programs in the field. This paper provides some practical ideas and options for integrating the two sectors of programming.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, the day on which we pause to think about the millions of people affected by the HIV pandemic. As the date approaches, we will post a series of entries focusing on our HIV and AIDS programs around the world. Some of the posts will be technical in nature, underscoring the scientific and programmatic foundations of CRS’ work.

Since we began our first HIV and AIDS project in the 1980s, CRS has become a leader in viewing the disease and its impact holistically, using the Integral Human Development (IHD) framework as a tool to understand the multiple levels of human development and related issues. The IHD, which is derived from Catholic Social Teaching (CST), provides a framework to assist people to in leading full and productive lives, meeting their basic physical needs in a sustainable manner, while living with dignity in a just and peaceful social environment.

In this spirit, Guidelines for Establishing and Operating Successful Support Groups for People Living with HIV (Fanelli C. & Moyo A., 2008) was created to give guidance for those seeking to initiate or improve existing support groups for people living with HIV.

This invaluable guide reminds us “people living with HIV form support groups to give and receive emotional, social and spiritual support. They also form support groups to develop and sustain positive strategies for living with the virus and to strengthen their knowledge about HIV and AIDS. The group is a place where people living with HIV can share experiences confidentially, gain self-confidence, make friends and develop a public voice.”