World AIDS Day

Pray especially for those most affected by this worldwide pandemic.

* The 15.2 million children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
* The youngest children who have lost their mothers; they are nearly four times as likely to die as children whose mothers are alive.
* Elderly persons in the developing world who are having to care for orphaned grandchildren.
* The 40 million people worldwide who are living with AIDS
* The 11,800 people who became infected with HIV today.
* Women who are especially vulnerable to infection, even when they are monogamous -- nearly half of those infected with HIV today are women; some 59 percent are in Africa.
* Family and friends of the 7,900 people who will die today of AIDS, particularly for those who are caregivers for children left without parents -- only 10 percent of Africa’s AIDS orphans receive any help from outside the extended family.
* Churches in communities where AIDS is prevalent; pray that they will work together and extend the compassionate care and the love of Christ to those infected and affected by AIDS.
* Government leaders in developing countries where HIV infection levels are high; pray that they will make wise decisions about how to fight the disease in their countries and care for those affected.
* The countries of Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe, where AIDS is most acute; it is expected that by 2010, one in five children will be an orphan because of AIDS.
* All those living in poverty, loneliness, illness, oppression or fear. Jesus says in Matthew 25: 40: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Pray for those who can help.
Pray:

* For Western government leaders who make decisions about international trade, foreign aid and the debts of developing countries; these issues deeply affect the ability of developing country governments to fight the pandemic within their borders.
* For the staff of non-government organizations that are working tirelessly in communities hardest-hit by poverty and AIDS.
* For anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment to reach millions of people who need it -- today, just one-quarter of the 6.8 million who need ARVs have access to these medicines; however, there is hope -- at the end of 2003, just 1 percent of Africans who needed ARV’s had access to them; today, more than 1 million Africans -- or 23 percent of those in need of treatment -- are receiving it; since 2002, an estimated 2 million “life years” were gained in low- and middle-income countries, meaning more parents were able to live longer to care for their children.
* For government and other leaders in developing countries to enforce and strengthen laws protecting women from sexual violence, and from families who rob widows and orphans of their inheritances.
* For the Church; pray that we will understand our biblical mandate to take care of orphans, widows and the oppressed and would respond by mobilizing the Church to help turn the tide against AIDS.
* For the global Church; pray that the largest organized group of people in the world would collaborate to strongly respond to the AIDS pandemic in the name of Christ.
* That health workers and educators will recognize that young people can change their behavior to protect themselves from contracting HIV, as they have in Botswana, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

* Thank God that we can participate in His work of bringing life in all its fullness, so mothers will not “bear children doomed to misfortune” (Isaiah 65).

adapted from the World Vision website