Focus Area #3: HIV and AIDS and Malaria

This year the ELCA is beginning a concerted effort to address these diseases that disproportionately affect those who are poor and marginalized. More than two million people die from AIDS every year, over one million die from Malaria. In sub-Sahara Africa, where AIDS is the leading cause of death and the Malaria epidemic is particularly acute, these diseases perpetuate the cycle of poverty, decimating those of working age and leaving countless children orphaned. ELCA World Hunger will play a key role in this church wide initiative to eradicate these so-called “diseases of poverty.”

- David Creech