That secular-religious partnership has been so effective that statistics reveal a significant decline from an alarming 21 percent prevalence in 1991 to a far more comfortable rate of 6.7 percent in 2005, according to the World Health Organization and an AIDS-focused United Nations agency.

"Uganda has experienced the most significant decline in HIV prevalence of any country in the world," noted Edward Green, author of "Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Learning from Successes in Developing Countries."

Green told the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS in 2002 that, "The most important determinant of the reduction in HIV incidence in Uganda appears to be a decrease in multiple sexual partnerships and networks" and that the effect of the interventions, particularly a reduction in the number of partners, "appears to have had a similar impact as a potential medical vaccine of 80 percent efficacy."

The Dernovseks became aware of the Ugandan successes and formed a group, Universal Chastity Education Inc., to support the Africans. "The Ugandans have successfully promoted to their youth a lifestyle of respect for sexuality and saving sex only for a faithful marriage - chastity," Kim Dernovsek said.

"UCE's vision is to maintain that success for them and share it elsewhere."

Ken Dernovsek said the efforts began under Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who became president in January 1986.

"When the new president realized that a huge number of his military troops were HIV-positive or had AIDS, an effort was made to get the government, the schools and the churches - both Anglican and Catholic - onto the same page to address the issues involved here."

The result, Kim Dernovsek said, was "a concerted and coordinated effort to promote abstinence for the unmarried and lifelong faithfulness for the married."

The campaign often is summarized as A-B-C: Abstinence, Be faithful and Commitment.

" 'Where are you with God?' is a popular question that is asked of Ugandans, even in the secular and governmental sphere," she said.

Kim Dernovsek, a dermatologist and venereologist, has been lecturing professionally, in the medical arena, since 2001 about the need for abstinence and fidelity as the only way to directly address issues related to STDs and AIDS: No contact, no problems.

The couple has been involved with Uganda and Burundi projects since founding UCI in 2003. They've made three visits to Africa since then. Dr. Kim Dernovsek received a grant from the Women's Dermatologic Society that supported her effort to analyze the Ugandan HIV reduction strategy.

It has become the couple's own priority to tie science and faith together for the purpose of saving lives and avoiding illness.

"It's too bad that, often, good, scientific approaches seem to lose credibility just because they also have a faith component," Kim Dernovsek said.

"In Uganda, when certain factions came into the nation promoting the use of condoms to stave off the diseases and AIDS, the rate of infection went up," she said.

"That's not good application of science," said Ken Dernovsek, an endocrinologist.

While both doctors - fairly conservative Episcopalians - are swayed by moral issues involved with nonmarital sex, they are as adamant that the conviction to remain abstinent until marriage, and remain faithful and committed during marriage is an effective medical solution to the problems, and the Uganda experience is proof of the validity of the stance.

The UCE's board of directors is composed of Puebloans and includes the Rev. Ephraim Radner, a former Puebloan who was rector of the Dernovsek's parish, Ascension, and now is a university professor in Toronto.

Endorsees of the UCE program in Uganda and its related efforts in Burundi include 14 Anglican bishops, a handful of Catholic bishops and government officials, too.

"Chastity is an inexpensive prevention for the worldwide HIV/AIDS/STD pandemic, and it does not separate an individual from their faith, but rather it empowers it within them," Kim Dernovsek said.

Among the governmental outreach programs is one involving college-age (but not necessarily college-educated) youngsters who are permitted to go into the school arena for two to three hours to talk about the efficacy of the abstinence approach. The targeted audience for the abstinence program is children of middle-school age through vocational-school age.

Ken Dernovsek recalled a session when, after the lectures, youngsters were invited to submit written questions to the lecturers.

"The questions from the children demonstrated the whole range of possibility, from abject ignorance to eye-popping sophistication," he said, adding "that the older students couldn't get to all the questions to answer them at the session."

Kim Dernovsek said that, eventually, UCE hopes to put together a booklet of the most frequently asked of that sort of question for a reference for the kids.

"I think there's a message for us in the United States. We need to take the time to think about AIDS, and pray about it," she said, saluting the recent Dec. 1 World AIDS Day commemorations at her parish and other locations.

She said, "We can learn from the Ugandans the role of prayer, of doing - as they try to do - God's will first, not our own. And I think we can be inspired by what can happen when all the various components of a community get on the same page and take a holistic approach to solving a problem."

More information about UCE is available online at www.uceglobal.org and the Dernovseks may be contacted at 248-8828.

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