In the early 1980's HIV was a largely unknown disease. Dr Patrick Dixon began, in his work as a physician, to meet patients with HIV, who had been refused care at home, or in hospices because of fear and stigma. As a result, ACET was born in 1988. Since then, ACET has directly or indirectly touched the lives of millions of people.
ACET began providing home based and palliative care by trained volunteers, supported by a professional team, across Greater London, together with teams going into schools with life-saving messages. Other teams soon developed around the UK, in Uganda, Thailand, Romania and other nations.
Eventually, and partly as a result of campaigning by ACET, the UK National Health Service took responsibility for most of the UK work, and the focus of ACET today is international work, with projects in over 20 nations.
ACET exists as a Christian response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
We are committed to unconditional care to all who are affected by HIV, however they come to be so.
We work with every part of the community, fighting prejudice and discrimination, encouraging acceptance, compassion and care, urging local communities to take action, to reach those at risk, to spread health messages and to save lives.
We believe we are called to make a difference. Here is our vision and our values....
Central to ACET's vision is mobilisation of the local church, which is often one of the strongest organisations in many of the rural, low-income communities which have been most impacted by AIDS, especially in places like sub-Saharan Africa.
Most of our work is carried out by church-based volunteers who provide a wide range of community services, including care to the orphaned and housebound, education about sex, relationships and lifestyle choices in local schools, and training to leaders to overcome the stigma and ignorance that so often surrounds those with HIV and AIDS.
ACET teams in many countries are working in local communities to bring care and support to those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Our home based care teams, made up of local, trained volunteers, visit people in their own homes, bringing understanding, counselling and practical help. Our orphan care programme also offers help with food and school fees to many thousands of children left alone or at risk following the death of their parents. Every child should have the right to a happy, fulfilled childhood, surrounded by love and acceptance.
AIDS prevention is at the heart of ACET's work. Every day, many thousands more become infected with HIV, yet almost all new infection can be prevented. And every day, ACET teams go into schools, colleges, churches and other community organisations, visiting drug users, commercial sex workers, taxi drivers, truck drivers - getting health messages to every part of the community about how to protect yourself and those you love from HIV. As part of prevention, we encourage those who think they may have been at risk to receive counsellng and HIV testing, so they can have the best chance to get treatment early.
Across the world there are many thousands of community-based organisations that are doing their best to respond to the challenges of AIDS. Many of their leaders and project workers recognise that they need help: practical training so that their efforts will be more effective in saving lives, able to care for more people, able to recruit more volunteers, able to attract more funding, able to be more effective partners with local government agencies, able to make the difference they feel called to make. That is why a vital part of ACET's work is to train workers. That may be through workshops, seminarrs or conferences, or through encouraging project leaders to visit well-established ACET projects, or through mentoring and coaching on a long term basis. ACET training reaches many thousands of community leaders each year. In addition, ACET distributes training resources in over 20 languages - with over 350,000 AIDS and You or AIDS Action books given away already, in partnership with many other agencies, including Operation Mobilisation.
Meet the ACET UK team. We are a very small team, supported by volunteers, doing what we can, with your help, to assist ACET programmes around the world in their prevention and care work. Please feel free to
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ACET has distributed, free, more than 350,000 training resources in 23 languages: copies of 'AIDS and You' books and more recently AIDS Action books (foreword by Director General of UNAIDS), to individuals, churches and organisations responding to the challenges of HIV and AIDS. These books have been sent out in partnership with Operation Mobilisation - co-operating with many other international agencies. Different ACET programmes have also produced a wide range of their own materials for use in their own nations and regions - such as parenting guides, school syllabus materials, home care training packs and so on.
