Diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis claim lives and destroy families every day. Yet, each of these diseases is preventable and treatable. We can save millions of lives by ensuring that everyone has access to health education, proper sanitation, clean water, mosquito nets, and affordable medication.
The target of Goal Six is to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases.
Making It Real
Episcopal Relief and Development is one organization that is fighting disease and the stigma of disease worldwide. For example, ERD reaches out to HIV-positive women through a partnership with HOPE Africa in the Province of South Africa.
A quilting cooperative has grown into a full-fledged business. Another group of women in Cape Town works together to make beaded AIDS pins. The women earn money to care for their families and the business’s profits go into a fund to support their children after they die.
Twenty-eight-year-old Maria found refuge in a circle of women beaders who are living with AIDS. The women enjoy the comfort of each other’s company while gaining financial security through their newfound craftsmanship. Through support groups like this one, people living with HIV/AIDS rediscover a sense of self-worth.
“This training has helped me a lot. Before, I wasn’t working,” reports Maria.
