This booklet, a collaborative production of AIDSCAP/LACRO and MAP International, is written with two primary purposes. First, it attempts to increase awareness within the international health community of the strategic niche that religious-based initiatives (RBIs) are filling in the struggle against HIV/AIDS globally, with particular emphasis on Latin America. Secondly, it urges the Church and multilateral, governmental and non-governmental organizations working in HIV/AIDS prevention and care to move to a new level of partnership and collaboration for enhanced effectiveness and wider impact.

The booklet draws from the experience of both AIDSCAP and the Latin American Office of MAP International, based in Quito, Ecuador. One focus of MAP International's work in Latin America is to encourage and support the Church to be more involved in total health issues, including responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. MAP International's collaborative work throughout Latin America in mobilizing churches and other religious institutions for total health development has demonstrated that RBIs have a key role to play in an integrated strategy to combat HIV/AIDS in the region. Religious-based initiatives, when properly supported and coordinated, can be some of the most strategic vehicles through which to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, failure to mobilize and utilize this foundational institution of Latin American society would almost surely mean failure in the struggle to promote truly effective and penetrating prevention efforts in the region.