A Comprehensive Response: The Role of Nonstate Actors in the Global Plan.

Nonstate actors-especially faith-based organizations, other nongovernmental organizations, groups of people living with HIV and AIDS, and private sector organizations-have been deeply committed to supporting governments reach the goals of the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive (Global Plan). This article highlights the role and contributions of select faith-based organizations and some private sector and philanthropic partners, as well as the work of other organizations. The success and impact of the Global Plan was in no small part a result of large-scale country-led collaboration in the provision of health care and implementation of programs. As the world grapples with meeting the ambitious United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS targets to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030-at a time when it also faces many other emerging health crises-the lessons learned from the Global Plan in harnessing the strengths of nonstate partners are the ones that should be replicated, enhanced, and taken to scale.

Discerning the meaning of human suffering through the discourse of Judeo-Christian scriptures and other faith teachings.

When confronted with the meaning of human suffering, many experts from a variety of professional disciplines admit to being incapable of formulating, on the basis of scientific method, a coherent explanation or rationale. Within that perspective, this article proposes another approach to the dilemma-that of reflection rooted in faith. The author examines the discourse of the Judeo-Christian scriptures and the comprehensive and cohesive doctrine developed by Pope John Paul II to find and track an evolving theology on the meaning of human suffering-one that includes understanding of this phenomenon as a "punishment for sin or evil," a test for fidelity, an occasion for God to show mercy and love, and a redemptive act by which Jesus took on all human suffering through his own death on the Cross and gave a salvific meaning to suffering through his resurrection from the dead. Further scriptural reflection and later Christian doctrines acknowledged that the suffering of other believers has its own redemptive value and that human suffering presents an occasion for all believers to respond with compassion and care to the pain of others.