Faith communities are in a unique position to provide HIV and AIDS prevention education and to comfort and assist those who are infected.

And they will, said members of several Utah churches who joined federal health officials Thursday morning as part of the 18th annual World AIDS Day. The news conference included representatives from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Church and the Episcopal Church.

They all spoke of the need for compassion, education and stepped-up prevention efforts in the face of an epidemic that keeps growing.

While it is a time of mourning and remembrance, said the Rev. Tom Goldsmith of First Unitarian Church, "it's also a time of hope" in faith communities as they see how much help and comfort they can provide.

"If government and the faith-building community work together to stem the tide of AIDS, they can do it," said Alex M. Azar II, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About 40,000 people are diagnosed each year with HIV, said Deborah Parham Hopsom, associate administrator in the HHS HIV/AIDS program. That number has not decreased in the past decade, although AIDS cases have, primarily because new treatments delay the conversion of HIV to AIDS, she said.

Parham Hopsom ticked off reasons that HIV infection numbers have not gone down, although HIV/AIDS has received a lot of attention: Some don't know they have it or feel they are not at risk. She has talked to many women, she said, who are married and believe their husbands are faithful. They find they are wrong when they are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Young people tell her "he (or she) didn't look sick." Or they feel the invincibility of youth. The must-have message, she said, is "HIV stops with me. If you're HIV-positive, do not transmit it."

Azar said testing must be a priority, as one-fourth of all new cases have no idea they have HIV — and two-thirds of those who are infected get the disease from people "who do not even know they have HIV."

"In Utah, since the epidemic was first described in 1981, almost 3,000 have been infected," said Dr. James Mason, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Since 2001, the number of AIDS cases reported in Utah has tripled. We have the tools and means whereby we can stop transmission of this virus," he added, referring to changing risky behaviors. "We have a duty to get to those who are infected and then reach out to all our citizens."

Faith communities, the speakers agreed, have great power to affect behaviors.

"I believe faith communities can do a lot to promote healthy lifestyles," said the Rev. Lee Shaw of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Such groups can build self-esteem and strengthen stability of families, among other things that "promote a healthy society." People need to be able to make "healthy lifestyle choices and have the support of their faith communities" in doing so.