The largest church conference on HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom was held this past weekend, reaffirming the belief that churches worldwide are joining in the battle against the deadliest epidemic in the history of mankind.

More than 300 delegates gathered at Bracknell Family Church in southeast England to not only be informed on the HIV/AIDS issue and what churches worldwide are doing, but also to discover what they can do to help their own home church respond.

The Positive Church Conference, organized by Tearfund, featured Kay Warren, executive director of the HIV initiative at Saddleback Church in southern California, and David Peck, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s secretary for international development. more >>

President Bush made the case for his malaria initiative Monday by promoting it as the United States’ moral duty while visiting Tanzania amid his five-nation Africa tour.

The president, together with first lady Laura Bush, visited a hospital and mosquito net factory, handed out insecticide-treated bed nets, and gave out hugs to grateful Tanzanians on the mission visit meant not only to improve the health of the impoverished continent, but also to preserve Bush’s African health initiatives beyond his tenure as president.

"The disease (malaria) keeps sick workers home, schoolyards quiet, communities in mourning," Bush said about the disease which kills 100,000 people a year in Tanzania alone, according to The Associated Press. "The suffering caused by malaria is needless and every death caused by malaria is unacceptable. more >>

It was not long ago when the Church had the mentality that HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease” and that those infected should be shamed and isolated. Times have changed and now the Church and other Christian organizations have moved to the forefront in caring for victims and spearheading campaigns to remove the stigma associated with people living with the disease.

Dr. Scott Todd, a pediatric AIDS expert and director of the AIDS Initiative of Compassion International, is one such Christian leader working to care for victims of HIV/AIDS.

In a recent interview, Dr. Todd shared about Compassion’s efforts to care and raise awareness on the plight of millions of vulnerable children, mostly in Africa, whose lives have been ravaged by the epidemic. more >>

Church groups around the world condemned a U.S. immigration policy restricting HIV-positive travelers from entering the country unless they receive a special waiver.

Debate on the policy, which has existed since the 1980s during the early HIV epidemic, was recently revived when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new regulation proposal last month.

The department had provided a 30-day period – which ended last Thursday – for public comment on the suggested policy change that claims to ease restrictions. more >>

Thousands of events were around the world Saturday to mark World AIDS day as religious leaders and event organizers joined hand-in-hand to call for bold leadership to deal with the “grave” challenge confronting the globe.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu issued a statement saying now was not the time for the world to be complacent and apathetic about AIDS, even though the United Nation had recently slashed its estimates of people with AIDS from 40 million to 33 million.

“[T]oday still 70 percent of infected people don’t have access to life saving therapies,” noted Tutu. more >>

LONDON – The head of the third largest Christian denomination in the world is reaching out to churches with a message of hope to be brave, imaginative and honest in the face of the global HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams' message of encouragement was prepared ahead of this Saturday’s World Aids Day. It marks the first time that the Anglican head’s message was made available in video format on the internet.

In his message, Williams praised the active engagement and dedication of churches in the global response to HIV and sharply criticized the limited access to drugs and treatment in some of the poorest parts of the world as "a scandal." more >>