Africa: “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise” — the message of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) on World AIDS Day 2006 – 26 November –is inspired by the words of Pope John Paul II – “Promises to the poor are a debt that must be paid”. The Bishops’ Conference expressed serious alarm at the magnitude of HIV/AIDS with 24.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone living with the disease and pressed for in-depth consideration of the deeper causes of the pandemic.