(Cover photo by REUTERS/Antony Njuguna)
International (MNN) ― UNAIDS' latest report suggests the HIV pandemic is slowing in many regions.
According to the numbers, there are an estimated 33.2 million people living with HIV worldwide. The total number of new HIV infections in 2007 is estimated to be 2.5 million, down from a peak of 3 million in 2001.
Even as many venues are being credited for their work in the fight against AIDS, U.S. President George W. Bush re-authorized funding for PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief.
The measure nearly triples funding for the successful global AIDS program over the next five years. As a result, PEPFAR has the potential to save five to seven million lives by 2013.
Dale Dieleman with Worldwide Christian School (WWCS) says they're cautiously optimistic about the news and are moving ahead with "Hope for Today's Generation," an HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum. "We have a whole generation of kids that are coming up that have not been exposed to the HIV prevention information done on community-wide bases, or through clinics and so on. And yet these are the very children orphaned by parents or other relatives because of AIDS."
"Hope" will help children make decisions that will keep them HIV-free. The curriculum exposes the students to a worldview that could be lifesaving. "Because we are a Christian-based organization, the curriculum that has been designed by teachers in Africa for the African classroom are very biblically-based to give them a moral basis to make wise decisions."
The potential impact of "Hope" is over two million children in WWCS partner schools in Africa alone. "We want to saturate the continent and beyond with an affordable teaching tool," said Dale Dieleman, WWCS Field Director for Africa. "There is not a classroom in Africa that has not been impacted in some way by HIV/AIDS."
Although "Hope" is now a complete and field-tested curriculum, it has yet to be launched because the program still needs funds that will cover printing and distribution in WWCS partner schools throughout Africa and beyond.
WWCS is looking for partners who can help support the program in order to keep it affordable for these schools, and to translate the tools into French--the first language of over 20 African nations.
