HIV/AIDS is an increasing problem in the community in and around Sangklaburi township on the Thai/Burmese border, with numbers of people testing positive steadily increasing each year. AIDS effects both the families and the communities of those infected. It is therefore a social problem which the church needs to both respond to and see as an opportunity to show love to those who are suffering as Jesus did.

AIDS has been known in Thailand for twenty years. Many people have been educated and trained about how to protect themselves from infection and how to care for those who are infected. However in this particular border area where Pahk 16 is located there are still many who have slipped through the net and have no understating of what AIDS is and how it can be caught. There is still a high level of fear of those who are infected because of ignorance, and therefore prejudice against them.

Many of the people who are infected or affected by AIDS in this border area do not have Thai citizenship. They are often stigmatized and alone. The hospitals will treat them if they are sick, but they have no right to access the government health insurance schemes, and often cannot afford to pay for medical care.

The project grew out of informal home visits to patients living with HIV/AIDS. The aim of the project is to provide support for patients, families and communities, primarily through friendship. This help takes the form of education, advice, counseling, advocacy with medical staff, help with income generation, nursing care particularly in the terminal stages of the disease, help with medical costs and the training of church teams to do home based care in their own community.

Goals

• To demonstrate God’s love to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
• To train church teams to be able to have a vision for and carry out the care and support of people in the community infected and affected by HIV/AIDS

Target Group

• Those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
• The churches and believers groups which make up Pahk 16
• The wider community