|TOP|A special appeal has been launched by the Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) to gather funds for a team of HIV and AIDS specialists it hopes to send to India to help the sister church in its fight against the spread of the disease.

PCW is hoping to send the team out in September to the Mizoram region of India to work alongside the Presbyterian Church of India (PCI) and its campaign against the virus.

The ‘Binding Wounds in the Bond of Love’ appeal is looking gather just £1 from each PCW member to raise £30,000 towards the new project.

The team will be made up of around eight Welsh media specialists, health authority representatives and those who work those who are drug or alcohol addicted.

|AD|The collaboration follows a visit from Aneurin Owen, director of Welsh organisation CAIS, which works with people involved in drug and alcohol abuse, with Dr Sanga of the PCI’s Durtlang Hospital.

Dr Sanga, who is in trying to set up a special unit in the hospital for sufferers of HIV or drug abuse, visited hospitals, universities and charities in Wales in 2005 where he talked about his work.

A team of individuals in public health and church leaders in Wales will meet with the medical director of Durtlang Hospital, Dr Rema, from Apr. 11th to 21st.

PCW general secretary Rev Ifan Roberts said: "We are very excited about the project - that we can help them in a practical way to spread the love of the gospel."

The Presbyterian Church of Wales is hoping that the HIV/AIDS partnership in Mizoram will enable both partners to gain greater expertise in tackling the deadly virus with the aim of sharing this knowledge with other synods of the Presbyterian Church in India.

Plans have already been outlined for a specialist team to be sent by the PCW to Mizoram in autumn 2006 following a visit from the head of the Presbyterian Hospital in Durtlang to Wales early in 2006.