(USA/Africa) — We begin today in the United States where President Bush is making the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa more of a priority. During his State of the Union message this week, he proposed a 15-billion dollar Emergency Plan for AIDS relief. World Vision‘s Ken Casey says this could be key in seeing Americans get more involved. “Getting involved starts with presidential leadership and I think he expressed that. Now the next challenge is for congress to follow up and approve the proposals that he sends to them. But, it was a great step forward and on the order of magnitude that the U-S ought to be dealing with in terms of this crisis.” World Vision has already made it a priority and is using the local church. “A part of our strategy is really helping to equip the local churches become the caregivers in their communities. They actually have much more man power and much more reach than World Vision does, and if we can help equip them to provide the care a support that’s needed in the communities then it can go a lot further.” With the hope that many will profess Christ.
