It all began with the Prescription for Hope
In 2002 a special conference was held in Washington, called Prescription for Hope. It was convened by Franklin Graham. As head of Samaritans Purse, he knew all too well the suffering and poverty and destitution that HIV/AIDS was causing worldwide, and he wanted to mobilise Christians around the world to do something about it. Out of the conference that drew medical experts, relief experts and Christian leaders together has come a programme, Prescription For Hope, which now works alongside Samaritan’s Purse to help churches in many countries set up preventive programmes against HIV/AIDS.

Why mobilise the churches?
Because in many countries around the world, the church reaches grassroots communities, is respected as an institution, has the spiritual
mandate to address the people, and has the ‘man power’ to get things done. In Africa especially there are two things you will find in any village: a primary school and a church. If you reach the churches, the churches can reach many millions of people... through its regular worship, its schools, its mission hospitals. Prescription for Hope began by holding two regional conferences in Uganda and Honduras, and soon had the support of hundreds of grassroots organisations. PFH has now set up many successful HIV/AIDS programmes through SP field offices. It is especially successful working through small, grassroots workshops.

The aim of PFH is straightforward. No one can cure AIDS, but anyone can learn how to avoid getting it in the first place. Education and
information is therefore vital to people. So Samaritan’s Purse and Prescription for Hope are working flat out to provide some practical tools for getting pastors to speak and churches to act in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. PFH programmes currently involve 200 pastors, women’s
leaders, youth leaders and teachers. They provide practical information so that local church leaders can teach and care for their own communities.

This year PFH is focusing on five countries in particular: Dominican Republic, South Africa, Swaziland, Cambodia, and India. It will work with already established SP field offices to make the workshops meet the highest Samaritan's Purse standard. Workshops are very practical. The pastors learn how to preach a sermon related to HIV/AIDS. The pastors are challenged to live out their own message of sexual purity. For PFH and Samaritan's Purse do not avoid the sad reality: HIV/AIDS is widespread in many of the churches, and so sex, abstinence and fidelity must be discussed in the Church – in a culturally appropriate way. Samaritan's Purse and PFH want Christians to take seriously what Jesus said about sex, but what He said about compassion and forgiveness, too. SP also provides a ‘toolkit’ for pastors and churches and Christian school teachers, and indeed anyone who wants to start a grassroots level programme.

The toolkit includes: a book of sermons, giving a biblical context for addressing HIV/AIDS; a book of programmes giving low-cost, practical suggestions of what a church can do in its community; and a flipchart of
HIV/AIDS awareness materials that helps pastors and teachers get across some basic information about the disease, from modes of
transmission to stages in the body.
A recently developed Samaritan's Purse HIV/AIDS emergency kit includes posters, pamphlets, rapid testing kits, antiretroviral drugs, rubber gloves, bandages, compresses, and bleach.

What makes Samaritan’s Purse role so special?
Samaritan's Purse has a unique role to play worldwide when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS.
It has a strong, established network of tens of thousands of pastors. It has a reputation for high quality work. It has an excellent infrastructure. It has links to churches and governments and UN organisations. And to underline it all, a primary commitment to Jesus Christ. Samaritan's Purse can fight HIV/AIDS through its extensive low cost programming. These can help reach orphans and vulnerable children, and care for people living with AIDS.

Samaritan's Purse is currently working in:
Honduras – where 11 church mobilisation sessions have been held for 500 church leaders – and more than 40 programmes started as a
result.
Mozambique – which has plans to mobilise 450 church leaders in the next two years, and aims to reach over 31,000 with prevention and
care messages.
There are also a variety of programmes underway in Kenya, Sudan, and El Salvador. It is hoped to start soon in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Cambodia.

>How is Samairtan's Purse helping fight HIV/AIDS in Russia?

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