Warm greetings to all our readers around the world. My name is Zoe, and I’ve temporarily joined the Footsteps editorial team while Helen Gaw is on maternity leave (and I’m delighted to let you know that Helen gave birth to a healthy baby girl in April).
This edition focuses on HIV, celebrating the progress made so far and highlighting innovative ideas for meeting future challenges. At Footsteps we have covered HIV in several previous editions, starting with Footsteps 6 in 1991. So much has changed since then. Advances in the quality and availability of treatment mean that HIV has gone from being a ‘death sentence’ to a manageable condition (pages 1–3). HIV prevention has expanded to include more than just sexual behaviour (page 19). There have been massive steps forward in preventing mother-to-child transmission (pages 8–9). Great work has been done on tackling stigma and discrimination, and brave individuals within the church have played an important role in this (pages 16–17). Much has been achieved, but there is much still to do if we are to achieve the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
It has been exciting to see the new innovations in responding to HIV and AIDS, such as the Alongsiders movement in Cambodia (page 5) and the Freedom Programme’s work in Egypt (page 18). In this edition we are experimenting with an innovation of our own – expanding Footsteps to include eight extra pages. We would love to hear your views on whether this is helpful. Please email us at publications@tearfund.org with your thoughts. We love to hear from you!
As you read this edition, I hope you will feel as encouraged as I do by the progress made so far, and that it will inspire us all to be part of God’s solution to HIV in the years ahead.
Zoe Burden, Editor
Please find below articles from Footsteps issue 98 in html.
To download a pdf version of Footsteps issue 98, please click here (PDF 1.2 MB).