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The U.N. report calls for tougher laws to protect women, but many also believe that justice must happen at the local level where cultural practices often hurt women.

"Every intervention possible is necessary to protect women," says Kay Warren, executive director of the HIV/AIDS Initiative at Saddleback Church in California, and wife of pastor Rick Warren. "We must teach men and women to respect one another and view sex as a gift from God, not a commodity. Churches can and should play a major role in this effort."

While the 2006 UNAIDS Report stops short of endorsing specific approaches and methodologies, it does encourage the involvement of churches and faith based groups, noting that one in five groups currently working in AIDS programming is faith-based. It also encourages the growth in the "untapped potential" of faith communities to respond to the pandemic.

The report notes that strategies must be developed for long-term prevention, treatment and care. Perhaps the first step is the inclusiveness reflected in this report and the sense that anyone who is fighting the disease is on the same side.

Dale Hanson Bourke is the author of The Skeptic's Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis.

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June (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50