The masters paper was enormous and then it just finished. It's May 3rd today and I'm shocked that it's over.

I have a May list though. These are the things that I've wanted to do for a while but have put off until May. I'm sure a lot will be added to My May List but for now I just have a list and will stick to it.

Item #1: Respond to a post by John Stonestreet the Summit blog. My friend pointed me to this post since not only am I a previous summit counselor but I'm also very interested in HIV/AIDS. Having worked with HIV/AIDS in 4 different countries and having concentrated on HIV/AIDS during my masters education of public health I have quite the vested interest in entering into a knowledgeable discussion surrounding issues of the disease.
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Quick thought: I believe that Christians should be willing to invest thought, time, energy and money into the research, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS starting with entering into the discussion wisely and intelligently.

Why invest?
HIV/AIDS has become a top public health around the globe but especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where prevalence has reached about 30%-40% in some areas(1). About 95% of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are in the developing world (2). One study in Tanzania recorded that only 20% of infected individuals are aware of their HIV status (3). In 2001 in some areas in Botswana, 44.9% of pregnant women are HIV infected. As a result about 10,000 infants were born with HIV in 2001 (1). Of the 600,000 infants born with HIV each year , 90% are living in Sub-Saharan Africa (4).

The US government has pledged 15 BILLION dollars (with an hope for $30) for PEPFAR (the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief) and they are currently heavily supporting faith-based initiatives.

The discussion/research/prevention is being navigated by researchers who don't have a Biblical worldview.

(1) G. Anabwani, W. Jimbo. Botswana Guidelines on Antiretroviral Treatment. Ministry of Health, Gabarone, Botswana 2002.(2) Geneva:UNAIDS. AIDS Epidemic Update. Dec 2004.(3) Bunnell R, Mermin J, De Cock KM. HIV prevention for a threatened continent: implementing positive prevention in Africa. JAMA 2006 Aug 16;296(7):855-858.(4) Adetunji J. Trends in under-5 mortality rates and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Bull.World Health Organ. 2000;78(10):1200-1206.

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I hope that I can flesh out some of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. I hope I can dispel some of the myths surrounding the issues. I hope I can educate Christians on what it looks like to enter the conversation intelligently. Please ask your questions about AIDS and I will try to answer as many as possible.

What I hope to cover: Injection drug use (clean needle exchange and methadone maintenance clinics), MSM(Men who have sex with Men), MSM/W (MSM and Women), Sex workers, condoms, sexual networks, abstinence, NGOs (Non-government organizations) and FBO (Faith-based organizations) mandatory testing, opt-out/in testing, counseling, Antiretrovirals (ARV)