These political concerns, however, have overshadowed
the ongoing needs in Malawi. For instance, 11% of Malawians are infected
with HIV/AIDS, ranking the nation ninth in the world for HIV/AIDS rates.  

HCJB Global Hands has healthcare professionals working at the Partners in Hope (PIH) Medical Center in Malawi. With a simple prick of the finger and some testing, the team is able to detect
whether or not someone is infected. If someone's results are positive, the
news is shared by trained counselors.

More and more, HCJB has been trying to do these tests
not just at the clinic, but in churches. AIDS still carries a significant
stigma with it in Malawi, and most people go to church on Sundays. Churches can
be the worst places to induce the stigma, and yet, HCJB believes, it is also
the perfect place to knock down those negative perceptions.

Church involvement in Malawi's AIDS crisis is mixed,
with many churches ignoring the issue. Other church leaders even discourage
patients from taking their medicine or seeking care, to demonstrate what they
deem as a stronger faith. Stopping antiretroviral drugs, however, can result in
viral resistance.

The HCJB team hopes to join efforts with the Church of
Central Africa-Presbyterian in community health evangelism. This would
integrate community development and healthcare with the Gospel.

HCJB already has a good reputation around Malawi, and people
are coming to know the Lord through their work. Pray that this new community
program would be provided with all it needs to not only meet a serious physical
need, but to meet a spiritual need as well.

Officials warn that the disease's arrival is likely to bring a surge of new cases from the overcrowded tent
cities. The waterborne disease could spread
easily in the unsanitary conditions where supplies are shared for cooking and
washing.

The government says more than
1,000 newly-infected swelled the ranks of the 11,000 needing treatment.   

HCJB Global Hands sent a medical team to help treat hundreds
of patients in the weeks leading up to Tropical Storm Tomas. The team, made up of Hermann Schirmacher, Ian
McFarland, Dr. Francisco Nina and Dr. Mark Nelson, was hosted by Samaritan's
Purse.

For those who were homeless in the wake
of the January quake, many are without shelter yet again. McFarland says, "Actually, many of the tents
are now just bits of canvas wrapped around four posts stuck in the ground."

Even as McFarland's team left, they
prepped a new tent with 24 beds to treat cholera patients at the gate of the
Global Outreach base at Titanyen. That
same night, the first four patients arrived, three of them being from the same
family.  

Meanwhile, Samaritan's Purse opened a new rehydration center in Cite
Soleil and has begun constructing another clinic in the area. The ministry is scouting
additional locations to set up temporary clinics if needed. They are also deploying staff and supplies to
the clinic, and training Haitian doctors and nurses in the region to
prevent and treat cholera.

In order to speed the prevention efforts, their team is also printing
and distributing thousands of health and hygiene pamphlets, as well as using vans
equipped with loudspeakers to broadcast prevention education messages.

The aftermath of the outbreak will need
all hands on deck. HCJB is sending another medical team from Ecuador next month.

Every moment is a touch point for the Gospel. Even as
Haitians wait for clean water at hydration stations, a pastor preaches the good
news of salvation concerning the living water that satisfies eternal thirst,
according to Schirmacher.

"Pray
for the spiritual impact," McFarland added. "Samaritan's Purse has worked hard
to have people go out with their teams to give spiritual advice and counsel.
Pray that these men might grow in their own Christian lives, and that there
might be some organized discipleship for those who have made professions of
faith."