For HCJB World Radio, reaching out to HIV/AIDS patients plays a relatively small increasingly important role with ministries in three countries -- Ecuador, Malawi and South Africa.

At the mission's Vozandes Hospital in Quito, Ecuador, an AIDS clinic was established in 1990 when the disease was relatively unknown in the country.

Dr. Richard Douce, an HCJB World Radio missionary, serves at the Vozandes AIDS clinic on Monday mornings and sees about five patients a week. "I also do infectious diseases consultations in the hospital and pick up a few more patients per month," he said. "I have been giving two-day seminars with CARE International to private physicians."

He held one such seminar in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in October followed by similar ones in Quito and Cuenca in southern Ecuador last month. "I generally talk about holistic health and prevention of AIDS," he said. "I'm also on the national technical committee for AIDS/tuberculosis."

"We have steadily increased the number of AIDS patients we see," Douce added. "Unless we can start distributing antiretroviral medicines, the clinic will remain relatively small."

Nurse Betty Van Engen has been involved with the AIDS clinic nearly since the beginning and often presents seminars for private physicians. She also developed workshops for counseling before conducting the HIV test on patients.

The Public Health Ministry of Ecuador has screened 120,000 women for HIV and found 0.3 percent to be infected in the country, but higher in Guayaquil at 0.8 percent.

Douce says he has seen a number of AIDS patients come to Christ such as a young man from the coast who contracted the disease at the beginning of this year.

After going to several doctors who had failed to diagnose the problem, he went to the Red Cross and asked for an HIV test. It came back positive. He then was seen by a public health worker who sent him to HCJB World Radio's AIDS clinic.

After three months of fevers, he had lost so much weight that he arrived looking emaciated and on the brink of death.

"He had lost more than half of his body weight, had several reddish lesions on his face, was very pale, and his blood pressure was very low," Douce explained. "He was obviously in the last stages of AIDS and appeared to be dying."

He was admitted to Hospital Vozandes-Quito where he was transfused with two units of blood, doubling his blood volume, and treated for a serious fungal infection in the bone marrow.

"He was seen by the chaplains who led him to Christ, and he seemed to have a very positive attitude," Douce said. "I asked him if he thought he was dying and told him that I thought he would live."

After three months of treatment, he did remarkably well and gained back 30 pounds "but he was still skinny," Douce said. He gave the young man a New Testament and urged him to read it and seek his purpose in life.

"You are giving me goose bumps!" replied the young man.

Last May Douce and his wife, Marian, along with Van Engen visited the AIDS clinic operated by Partners in Hope in Malawi. HCJB World Radio has assigned a missionary couple, Drs. Mike and Heather Tacheny, and a nurse, Jessica McMillan, to serve at the clinic.

Malawi is one of the nations hardest hit by HIV/AIDS with about 900,000 of its 10 million people infected with the disease. Rates are as high as 30 percent in urban areas, and the disease has left hundreds of thousands of orphans nationwide.

Malawi started offering antiretroviral medications in 2002 with the assistance of Global Fund, WHO and other partners. However, most patients still do not have access to the life-saving medications.

Dr. Perry Jansen of the Partners in Hope staff says the "spiritual impact of HIV/AIDS care is great. It is a life-threatening disease, and therefore spiritual issues come up naturally when caring for patients with AIDS. Those who have this disease come to grips with their mortality and those caring for them, especially providing antiretrovirals, are in a unique position to share Christ."

Partners in Hope has 800 AIDS patients on treatment, and is adding 80 to 100 patients monthly with a goal of 3,000 to 4,000 total. Patients who have no treatment have a 50-percent chance of dying in the first year compared to just 5-10 percent for those who receive treatment.

"The challenge will be to reach rural areas -- most treatment centers are in cities," Jansen said. "Partners in Hope will be starting two outreach clinics this year (potentially more in the future) to address the lack of treatment in rural areas."

In addition to medication, the ministry offers hospice care, counseling and AIDS prevention programs.

For the last two years HCJB World Radio missionary Susie Pile has been serving at an AIDS clinic at a community center operated by partner King of Kings Baptist Church in Cape Town, South Africa, where she has encouraged hundreds of patients.

Paula is a 19-year-old schoolgirl who came to the clinic with a contact slip from her partner who was treated for a related infection at the clinic, and she wanted to be treated as well. She agreed to do an HIV test, and when the test results proved her to be positive, she was very upset and accused her partner of transmitting HIV to her.

"While counseling her, she asked me to contact her sister. I couldn't reach her sister, only found the voicemail," Pile explained. "The girl then asked me for permission to go home to look for her sister's home number and I agreed that she could. After awhile I started worrying, maybe she went out and committed suicide!"

"I went to the clinic manager and asked permission to go into the community in search for this girl, but she arrived at the clinic just as I was about to leave. I made sure that she was alright and scheduled a follow-up date for further counseling. She is doing well, and we are continuing our counseling sessions."

Nancy is a 32-year-old married woman with three children. She was very sick and had to be admitted to a local hospital in Cape Town. At the time they were staying with her husband. With voluntary counseling at the hospital, she was tested for HIV and tuberculosis. She was devastated upon hearing that she tested positive for both, but immediately started treatment.

Her husband came to visit her at the hospital, but after finding out about her sickness he abandoned her and their three children. They never saw him for more than five years.

"Fortunately, this lady found a job and supported her family," Pile explained. "She also continued her treatment and joined a support group to learn from others. Currently her husband is visiting her and the children after realizing that she is living a normal life. She encouraged him to also get tested, and now they are going to church on a regular basis."

With more than 25 million deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS worldwide, 40 million people diagnosed with the disease and 15 million orphans left homeless, HCJB World Radio will continue to look for opportunities to bring physical and spiritual care to this needy population.

Source: HCJB World Radio