epidemic

Jim Wallis 3-05-2020

A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to COVID-19. NEXU Science Communication/via REUTERS/Files

Economic, social, and political inequality affects everything — including the new coronavirus: who gets it, how they are treated, the chances for recovery, job security, etc. Our Sojourners team looked at that question this week: How is our deep and shameful inequality in America at play as the threat of the new coronavirus rises? Here is what we found.

Molly Marsh 11-05-2014

CONSIDER A FATHER from rural Liberia who shows symptoms of Ebola. There are no health clinics in or near his village, so he and his family make the 10-hour trip to Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, using public transportation, potentially infecting others at every stage of their journey.

They arrive at the city’s public hospital, which is overflowing with patients because the facility is understaffed and underresourced. Staff members don’t have sufficient training or the tools to treat Ebola’s symptoms, the space to isolate infected patients, or the appropriate equipment to protect themselves from danger. They can’t cope with the sheer number of patients—those with the virus or with other illnesses—and the father likely dies.

What if, instead, the father is seen by a community health worker in his village? She notes his fever, vomiting, and diarrhea and knows he needs fluids immediately. The nurse who supervises her concurs, and they begin treatment. In the meantime, the nurse sends word for an ambulance from the nearby clinic to retrieve him, and she tells the family to limit their contact with others and to watch for similar symptoms in themselves for three weeks.

The local clinic is fully staffed and resourced. Doctors and nurses in full protective gear meet the ambulance, take the father to a hospital bed that is placed at some distance from others, and continue administering fluids. Because his community health worker spotted his symptoms early, and because high-quality care is close by, the father likely lives.

Rock star and international AIDS activist, Bono, in Brazil, April 2011. Photo by

Rock star and international AIDS activist, Bono, in Brazil, April 2011. Photo by Antoni Cruz/ABr via Wiki Commons bit.ly/tjhZv9

Today marks the anniversary of World AIDS Day. The USAID estimates that since the epidemic began, over 60 million people have been infected with the disease, and over 25 million lives taken.

One of the most prominant figures fronting the fight against AIDS is U2 frontman, Bono. In 2002, Bono became vocal about the epidemic, embarking on a tour across the American Midwest to recruit churches to join the fight against AIDS in Africa. In Christianity Today’s 2003 feature “Bono’s American Prayer,” (written by Sojo’s own Cathleen Falsani) he articulates the crucial role the church must play in combating the epidemic.

"If the church doesn't respond to this, the church will be made irrelevant. It will look like the way you heard stories about people watching Jews being put on the trains. We will be that generation that watched our African brothers and sisters being put on trains."

Jim Rice 2-03-2011
This Sunday would be Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, and the predictable tributes have come from across the political spectrum.
Chris Kromm 1-18-2011
The tragic Arizona shootings have sparked debate over an important question: What's the connection between violent political rhetoric
Logan Isaac 11-08-2010

This is the fourth installment of a series Logan Mehl-Laituri is writing for God's Politics focusing on selective conscientious objection.

Elizabeth Palmberg 11-02-2010

Imagine a world in which Wall Street decided that vaccines were a good investment -- not pharmaceutical companies, but doses of medicine themselves. Speculators might start hoarding a mixed portfolio of polio, tetanus, and swine flu vaccines in a refrigerated warehouse.

LaVonne Neff 5-07-2010

"On average," writes Jonathan Safran Foer, "Americans eat the equivalent of 21,000 animals in a lifetime." Alas, most of these animals came from factory farms, n

Logan Isaac 3-09-2010

I am not a movie buff by any standard, but somehow I suspect I am not the only one who was more than a little surprised at the reception of the latest war movie at Sunday's Oscars.

With more than a third of our children now overweight and many already diabetic, Americans of all political colors should commend the First Lady for her recently-announced campaign against childhoo
Julie Clawson 7-06-2009

"The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you are eating, because if you knew you might not want to eat it " - Food, Inc.

Elizabeth Palmberg 3-20-2009
In what ways do you find community and healing from our consumer culture's profoundly screwed-up body images, supersized portion size, and meals in front of the TV? Sojourners wants to know!

Adam Russell Taylor 12-02-2008
Yesterday our nation and world commemorated the 20th global observance of World AIDS Day.