The director of the United Nations Aids Prevention Project, Peter Piot, has said that the most effective way to face Aids is to replace shame with unity, and fear with hope. In Taiwan's Presbyterian Church (PCT} as in many churches around the world, the first Sunday in December is AIDS Sunday. The PCT's Church and Society Committee invites churches to say special prayers regarding AIDS and to speak to the subject on this day.

Ms Chiou Hsu-mei, the director of Taiwan's Aids foundation, is a member of a Yi-li Presbyterian Church in Taipei. She says, "The church's Aids concern work can be in the form of support, education and comfort.

Clergy can discuss AIDS with church members, teaching facts about the condition, and leading believers to Bible based attitudes. In leading prayers, they can remember the suffering of persons with Aids. In mission outreach, they can take concrete actions towards support of Aids work.

Ms. Chiou said, "Aids should not be regarded as a problem just in Africa or South East Asian countries, but as an important topic of concern for Christians who care about suffering people anywhere."

By Li Yi-shin, translated by David Alexander