Tearfund is to launch a new appeal this autumn as part of a major strategy to enable churches to fight the AIDS pandemic.
The Work a Miracle appeal will support churches throughout the developing world which have already made a good start in tackling an illness that has claimed more than 20 million lives in the last 25 years. Every day another 14,000 people are infected with HIV, most of them in countries already crippled by poverty.
A new film produced for Tearfund features Esther, from Malawi, who ten years ago gave birth to a daughter on Christmas Day. Esther is living with HIV. She named her daughter Alinafe, which means God is with us. Esther knows there is a risk that she may have transmitted HIV to her child whilst Alinafe remains unaware of the danger. She doesn't know why her mother is sick sometimes.
"I don't want to tell her that I have HIV," says Esther. "When I'm ill, I tell her I might not get better. But it makes her so sad."
Esther hopes she will live long enough to see Alinafe get married, but although it is perfectly possible to live for decades with HIV, it is unlikely that Esther will get that chance as her poverty means she can not afford to eat meat and vegetables necessary to make her course of medicines effective.
But knowing her life is in God's hands she has faith that he will look after her daughter too.
Christian organisations and churches are vital in the battle against the virus. Esther, like so many others with limited options, looks to the support from organisations like Tearfund in the fight against HIV.
"The church should play a role in stopping HIV," says Esther. "Christians should care for people and pray."
To stop the spread of HIV it is vital to Tearfund that it helps vulnerable women like Esther by securing their access to medicines and information that will prevent their babies being born with HIV.
