The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International has produced an HIV/AIDS awareness kit, a video/DVD, and red ribbons to encourage the commemoration of World AIDS Day, December 1. The curriculum is structured for faith-based groups, especially schools and churches.
The kit provides a curriculum for adults and youth, including a discussion and activity guide, poster, sermon/speech outlines, announcements, activity ideas, facts, and other resources.
ADRA’s red ribbons and six-minute video/DVD entitled The Face of AIDS are also available at no charge for persons or groups agreeing to commemorate World AIDS Day. The theme for this year's kit addresses HIV/AIDS stigma and prejudice. “Stigma keeps those infected with HIV/AIDS from seeking medical help and ostracizes them and their families from the emotional support they vitally need,” stated Charles Sandefur, president of ADRA International. “Because of this, ADRA found it vitally important to address stigma, increase awareness of the causes and prevention of AIDS, and promote the importance of providing a caring environment for those impacted by HIV/AIDS. I encourage all churches and schools to get ADRA’s kit and commemorate World AIDS Day,” Sandefur continued.
By visiting www.adra.org you can download the kit as well as request the video or DVD and ribbons. Requests for these resources can also be made by calling +301.680.6050 internationally. All resources are provided free of charge.
According to the United Nations, at the end of every day last year, 14,000 more people learned they had HIV, joining the 37.8 million people globally living with HIV—an increase since last World AIDS Day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 950,000 United States residents are living with HIV infection and according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) about one-fourth of those do not even know they have the virus. NIH also estimates that approximately 40,000 new HIV infections occur each year in the United States and of these about half are under 25 years of age.
ADRA implements HIV/AIDS projects such as education about the causes and prevention of HIV/AIDS and teaching adults, youth, and children how to care for family and friends who have AIDS. Last month ADRA was awarded a $10 million grant to implement a five-year project to fight HIV/AIDS in Kenya and Tanzania. The project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will focus on the prevention methods of abstinence and behavior change for youth.
An ADRA World AIDS Day kit has been mailed to all Seventh-day Adventist churches, colleges and universities, as well as junior and senior academies in the U.S.A.