Story number 3 for 20 Aug 2001

(South Africa) — A change of behavior not drugs is the answer to fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the African content. So says Robert Michel of World Vision. Last week the head of South Africa’s health system said drugs to help fight the disease are still too costly. Michel says ending sexual promiscuity and drug use is part of the answer. “We try to make people aware that’s it’s basically in their own hands. They have to change their behavior. Yet, at the same time we have to care for the children. We have to care for the dying people.” Michel says that care should come from Christians. That’s why he wants the church to get involved. “We have Christian witness programs, but because we are working on so many different fields we would actually like to actively engage with local churches to do specifically the Christian witness aspect on this one. To bring it much further that what we can do.” In Southern Africa alone there are four-million new HIV/AIDS cases each year.