AIDS

• Over 42 million people are infected, more than 10,000 die every day.
• 3 million children worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS.
• More than 14 million children are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.
• 8,000 people die every day with HIV; the majority of those deaths occur in Africa.
• 95 % of people with HIV have no access to life extending AIDS treatment

Read more about global AIDS and what you can do to help. Here you will find information about current AIDS-related legislation, advocacy resources, talking points, and more…

History

The Unitarian Universalist Association has long opposed institutionalized discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and upheld their rights to affordable medication and health care. As an Association, we have also advocated for medically-accurate, practical, and comprehensive sex education to prevent the spread of AIDS and have raised our voices against the homophobia and racism that often underlies the stigma inflicted upon people living with HIV/AIDS. Recognizing that the crisis has reached unprecedented proportions and will continue to do so until major economic and social structures are changed on a global level, the General Assembly of 2003 issued an Action of Immediate Witness to bring attention to the issue and compel our member congregations to take action.

Why we act?

Every human being is born free and equal in dignity and rights. That includes those living with HIV and AIDS. It includes those who love and treat and support and suffer with those living with HIV and AIDS. It includes all of us.—Rev. Katie Lee Crane

• Read the complete 2003 Action of Immediate Witness on global AIDS
• Read excerpts from General Assembly Social Justice statements

Take Action!

Here you will find ideas for bringing awareness of the global AIDS crisis to your congregations and communities or visit the Stop Global AIDS website

Learn more on current legislation you and your congregations can work on from our coalition partner .

Unitarian Universalist Resources:

• Read excerpts from Stephen Lewis’s Ware Lecture at General Assembly 2002, Quebec City.

Sermons

• Rev. Bruce Davis. “Forming Your Framework for Ethical Living.” First Unitarian Church, Portland, Intern Minister.
• Rev. Katie Lee Crane. “Connected / Not Going It Alone.” First Parish of Sudbury, Massachusetts, Minister.
• Dr. Tony Larsen. “Tables.” Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, Racine, Wisconsin, Minister.

Other Social Justice Statements on HIV/AIDS

• Opposing AIDS Discrimination—1986
• AIDS/HIV Crisis—1989

RE Curricula

• Our Whole Lives (OWL)

Beacon Press Books:

• Carol Joffe, Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade
• Emily Martin, The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction

UUA Washington Office for Advocacy

Other Resources:

• For advocacy news and campaign updates, go to www.globalaidsalliance.org
• Ecumenical worship materials and ideas for sermons and services on AIDS, especially around World AIDS Day, go to
• If you would like to receive daily news articles and advice on generating media or contacting elected officials, subscribe to the RESULTS listserve by sending an email to majordomo@vida.com with the subject line: subscribe results-L
• Everything you ever wanted to know about HIV/AIDS : medical information, definitions of unfamiliar terms, news articles on HIV/AIDS, etc.
• Home website of the UN’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS , TB, and malaria
• Learn HIV/AIDS statistics in the U.S. and by state
• For more information on access to HIV/AIDS treatments for people in developing countries, see www.oxfam.org  or www.stopglobalaids.org 
• 9/17/03 “African Patients Adhere Well to Anti-HIV Regimens,” Ivan Oransky. The Lancet.
• 9/19/03 “HIV Treatment Is Cheaper for South African Firms Than No Coverage, Insurer Says.” Reuters
• More links

Unitarian Universalist Association
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