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The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

5 Facts about AIDS and HIV

World AIDS Day is held each year on December 1 as an opportunity to raise awareness about the fight against HIV, show support for people living with HIV, and to remember the people who have died from AIDS.

Here are five facts you should know about HIV and AIDS:

1. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: Acquired means you can get infected with it; Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body’s system that fights diseases; Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.

AIDS refers to the most advanced stages of HIV infection (human immunodeficiency virus), defined by the occurrence of any of more than 20 opportunistic infections or related cancers. Being HIV-positive, or having HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-positive but don't get sick for many years.

2. HIV can be transmitted through: unprotected sexual intercourse or oral sex with an infected person; transfusions of contaminated blood; the sharing of contaminated needles, syringes or other sharp instruments; or the transmission between a mother and her baby during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.

3. Globally, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV in 2015, and 1.8 million of these were children (i.e., under the age of 15). The vast majority of people living with HIV are in low- and middle-income countries. An estimated 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus in 2015. An estimated 1.1 million people died from AIDS-related causes in 2015, down from two million in 2000.

4. An estimated 150,000 children became infected with HIV in 2015, down from 290,000 in 2010—a decline of nearly 50 percent. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa and were infected by their HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. Mother-to-child-transmission of HIV is almost entirely avoidable, though access to preventive interventions remains limited in many low- and middle-income countries. In 2015, Cuba was the first country declared by the World Health Organization as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV. In June 2016, Armenia, Belarus, and Thailand were also validated for eliminating mother-to-child HIV.

5. HIV is the result of multiple cross-species transmissions of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) naturally infecting African chimpanzees. While no one knows how the cross-species transmission occurred, the origin of the AIDS pandemic has been traced to the 1920s in the city of Kinshasa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. An international team of scientists say a “perfect storm” of a roaring sex trade, rapid population growth, and unsterilized needles used in health clinics probably spread the virus. HIV spread in the Congo for almost 60 years before it recognized as a new disease in 1981.

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to Alistair Begg about Spurgeon, pastoral leadership, and Cleveland sports. And on the new ERLC podcast series, “How to Handle,” Trillia Newbell talks to Patrick McGinty and Meagan Smith about singleness.

Other Issues

American Culture

The Museum That Places the Bible at the Heart of America’s Identity
Emma Green, The Atlantic

The new facility tells a national story through the lens of the holy book.

Bioethics

Infanticide
Sandra Newman, Aeon

There is nothing so horrific as child murder, yet it’s ubiquitous in human history. What drives a parent to kill a baby?

U.S. Abortion Data from 2014 Show Pro-Life Progress
Michael J. New, The Corner

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released U.S. abortion data for the year 2014, indicating that the U.S. abortion-rate decline, which began in the early 1980s, continues at a steady pace.

Fed. judge blocks Texas dismemberment abortion ban
Baptist Press

A federal judge on Nov. 22 blocked a Texas law protecting unborn babies from dismemberment abortions. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel placed a permanent injunction on Senate Bill 8, calling the legislation unconstitutional.

Planned Parenthood Is in Deep Trouble With the Law. This Could Be a Turning Point.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, The Daily Signal

We are living through a remarkable time in history. Almost daily, those in influential positions who once appeared untouchable are falling out of popular favor as their abuses are exposed.

Christianity and Culture

Location of Jesus' tomb suggested by scientific dating
Baptist Press

Scientific dating of ancient mortar in Jerusalem has added to what some scholars call mounting evidence the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the site of Jesus' tomb.

International Issues

The Scourge Of Modern-Day Slavery
W. Kurt Hauser, Hoover Institution

As many as 46 million human beings will wake up today to a life of forced labor, violence, sexual assault, and dehumanization under the yoke of slavery.

The Great Call of China: Churches Poised to Become Major Exporters
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra|, Christianity Today

Hundreds pledge lives to missions at ‘Chinese Urbana’ as red tape rises.

Gambling addiction is on the rise in Kenya and leaving young people bankrupt and suicidal
Abdi Latif Dahir, Quartz

As gambling, and especially sports betting, becomes pervasive in Kenya—and Africa at large—its adverse effects continue to get acute.

Sexuality Issues

Lawmakers Back Bill To Combat 'revenge Porn'
Juliet Linderman, Associated Press

A group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday to combat online sexual exploitation, just a week after the leak on social media of an explicit photo of a Republican congressman from Texas.

Federal judge: military must allow transgender recruits starting on January 1
German Lopez, Vox

Trump’s ban on transgender military service just lost in court — again.

Consent is Not Enough: Harvey Weinstein, Sex, and Human Flourishing
Angela Franks, Public Discourse

What Harvey Weinstein is accused of is wrong not only because the victims did not consent but also and more importantly because of what he chose. Sex expresses self-gift, which is why it is such a violation when something that should only be a free gift is stolen by force.