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| Malawi Facts HIV/AIDS Worldwide, 30 million people now live with HIV; 22 million of those affected live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that by 2010 nearly as many will have died from AIDS as soldiers in all the wars of the 20th century. Sam Mpasu, Malawi's Speaker of Parliament, describes Malawi as living under the shadow of death. Every hour of every day another 8 people, typically in the 19 to 49 age group, develop full-blown AIDS. Infection rates are higher in the south of the country than in the central or northern regions. Because the virus attacks the immune system, the sufferer becomes vulnerable to other infections and in particular tuberculosis. New cases of TB reported each year have increased from 5,000 in 1985 to 20,000 in 1996. There is no effective treatment for HIV in Malawi as the drugs available in Western countries are just too expensive. Adults are too ill to work; children are left orphaned. Grandparents are left to bring up children as their sons and daughters die. Many of those affected are the very people who would be expected to help their country rise out of poverty: teachers, doctors and nurses. For years the response to this enormous tragedy was denial from both church and state. In recent years however the sheer scale of the crisis - where AIDS has touched virtually every family in Malawi - has prompted a number of awareness programmes. The challenge facing Malawi is how to translate awareness into open discussion within communities, compassion and care for orphans and people with HIV or AIDS and changes in traditional customs which encourage the spread of AIDS. Churches in Malawi, with the support of government, have an enormous role to play in co-ordinating AIDS education and in the areas of care and prevention. The Malawi Council of Churches has given a strong lead and has run ecumenical AIDS workshops for pastors. Acknowledging the failure of the church in the past to tackle the AIDS epidemic, the Council has called on churches to, "promote behaviour change, provide care to orphans, the sick, widows and widowers, to be open and talk and teach about AIDS, to promote hope and ensure economic empowerment". More on HIV/AIDS in Malawi The Guardian newspaper ran a special feature section on the effects of HIV/AIDS in Africa, focusing particularly on Malawi. It examined how lives, communities, society and the economy are all decimated by the pandemic and how power and greed prevent 30 million people from receiving the antiretroviral drugs that would save them. The following stories are about three very different people, but they all face daily the anguish of HIV/AIDS. Grace MatanangaGrace is just 30 but has already lost her husband and child to HIV. The virus will slowly take her life too. She knows about antiretroviral drugs but also knows that unless the world changes its attitude to people like her she will never be fortunate enough to receive them. Athenase Kiromera Justin Malewezi PlusNews
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