First the bad news: Infections from HIV continue to grow.

Now the good: Prevention of these infections is possible, and death from AIDS is decreasing around the world.

No corner of the globe is safe. Australia has been devastated. China has just discovered its first cases, and the disease is spreading quickly. Sub-Saharan Africa has been inundated: 25 percent of Botswana's population live with HIV infections, and Namibia has nearly a 20 percent infection rate. By comparison, less than 1 percent of U.S. citizens are infected.

When I looked at a map of the world with color gradations indicating infections, it was astounding to see Africa bathed in red, the color representing the highest number of cases. All of the United States is a dark brown, indicating that 0.5 percent to 2 percent are infected.

The big concern in the United States is the African-American community, which surpassed the white community in 1996 as the group with the most cases of AIDS. The African-American community now constitutes 57 percent of the HIV infections in the United States. The South, by far, had the most HIV infections, while the Northeast came in second, the Midwest third and the West last.

Of the 7,200 cases of HIV infection in the United States reported among 13- to 24-year-olds from January 1994 to June 1997:

--44 percent were female.

--63 percent were African-American.

--At least 26 percent had acquired their infections through heterosexual sex.

--31 percent were men who have sex with men.

--6 percent were injection drug users.

These facts come to me from the AIDS and Religion Conference last week at the Carter Center in Atlanta. It was a marvelous conference, bringing both concern and hope to participants.

The news about the numbers was alarming. We simply can't allow this epidemic to continue without a huge effort on the part of religious groups.

Hope, however, comes when you look at prevention. In just about every country where a strong effort has been made to prevent HIV infection, the numbers have fallen. The use of condoms, the new AIDS drug cocktails and other prevention measures have driven the number of deaths from AIDS sharply down. Now the trick is to see a significant drop in the number of HIV infections.

What also brought hope to me was the large number of activists who are running AIDS ministries. For instance, the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, Calif., began an AIDS ministry in 1987, assisting HIV and AIDS patients and their families with physical and spiritual needs. In 1984, the church received a grant from the federal Housing and Urban Development department to build 24 housing units for people living with AIDS. That complex is now under construction.

Another ministry, called the Church at Night, emerged after Wellington United Church of Christ in Chicago began experiencing a greater night population and more crime around the church. The program started with a minister on the streets to hang out in bars and talk to lonely street people and prostitutes. With 45 staff members and a budget of more than $2 million, Church at Night is now prepared to help ill people, many of whom have AIDS.

Most of these ministries are ecumenical and require the help of all the churches in a particular city. For example, the Atlanta Interfaith AIDS Network creates bridges among faith communities and people living with HIV through compassionate care. They work in teams of six to eight people who commit to providing nonjudgmental care for people living with AIDS. They do laundry, hold hands with the patients, warm meals in the microwave and help patients build a better quality of life.

The importance of these ministries is crucial to this epidemic because, sadly, people always may be dying of AIDS.

Those who help are heroes to me: They are able to walk calmly into a raging epidemic and give their love away.

Clark D. Morphew