Responding to the AIDS epidemic worldwide and in Africa in particular, Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders have agreed to focus on education about HIV/AIDS and, at a humanitarian level, care and healing for victims, their families and communities. The church established the International AIDS Study Committee, attended by 21 members during the inaugural meeting at the world headquarters of the Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, on January 11, to identify the church’s role on the issues of HIV and AIDS in Africa. 

The committee was encouraged to participate in open, frank discussion. Dr. Allan Handysides, director of health ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide, expressed his “hope for quick action on pressing matters.”

Committee members presented statistical information from Africa, Australia, United States, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The main area of concentration was on the plight of pregnant mothers. A study conducted in Africa that was completed in 1993, showed the percentage of pregnant mothers infected with the HIV virus to be 0.8 percent. The same study was repeated in 1996, which yielded a rise to 7.9 percent. The most recent study, completed in 1999, revealed a staggering jump to 22 percent.

Three sub-committees were established to discuss specific issues: one dealing with modifications within the local churches, another addressing standards of education, and the third establishing the role of health-care institutions.

The committee plans to reconvene during the summer of 2001 to focus issues of leadership, financing of programs, and to develop a system that will track the progress of this crisis effort.

Currently collaborative efforts are being made through the use of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), other religious organizations, and government agencies to relieve some of the suffering that this virus has caused.