Mexican Catholics to participate in AIDS prevention campaign in Africa

Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 19, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Bishops Conference of Mexico has called for a special collection on February 27 to raise money for the fight against AIDS in Africa.

The Conference said the collection is in response to the call by the Pontifical Council for Health Care, which has expressed its concern for the number of children orphaned by the disease.  Currently there are more than 15 million orphans due to AIDS and the number could rise to 18.4 million by 2010.

The Bishops Committee on Social Work, responsible for coordinating the collection, reported that according to statistics, the epidemic has not diminished and in fact continues to spread.

“We see a rising curve that speaks to the failure of the world’s efforts to stop it,” organizers said.

According to recent data, in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa more than 28 million people have the AIDS virus.

AIDS, say the bishops, is “the trunk of a tree of death whose branches are made up of orphans, insufficient services, unemployment, economic hardship, poor education, greater poverty, violations of human rights, disgrace and death, among other things.”