CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Africa |
AIDS
End silence and discrimination.
Call for general mobilisation!
On the subject of HIV/AIDS the African Protestant Churches have a guilty conscience. They have said they need to end their apathy and break the silence and the mythologising of which they have been guilty, make their act of contrition, an honourable amendment and from then on get their aim right. As the Secretary-General of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) — the body incorporating all African Protestant Churches states: «We have come a long way since the 1980s, a period of denial and politicking while people were dying in the pandemic. We have wasted our energy on criticising and trying to profit from the situation to score political points».
In Dakar, therefore, during a Consultation held from 23-25 April together with the Protestant Church of Senegal, the Church World Service and the Protestant HIV/AIDS coordination committee, the AACC brought together 82 participants, mainly church leaders, from 16 African countries to finalise and agree a strategy for making «positive» responses to «the worrying spread of the global epidemic» in Africa, a phenomenon which, he admits «worries» him.
Generally speaking, this concern is shared by Senegal’s Health Minister who opened the consultation process. It should be remembered that this particular gathering follows another held last January in Uganda, a significant step in the reconsideration process begun by the AACC.
For three days, leaders of Churches and religious communities studied the «conditions for increased awareness», while at the same time, sharing in «lived experiences» in order to improve the circumstances and acceptance of those affected or threatened, especially women and children, the most vulnerable groups, and finally to «review the approach to prevention strategies». In other words, the question was to discover what the Church could do to increase the effectiveness of its commitment.
If the Church is able to play an important role, to «break the culture of silence» and act as advocate with governments and organisations that have resources for dealing with the situation, it can plead for an «economic, global policy». It must therefore «review its pastoral formation» that must be continued and intensified so as to include strategic learning processes on the response to make to HIV/AIDS. In short, it is essential to reflect on ways and means to «sustain and improve church-inspired programmes and mobilise efforts to facilitate such programmes».
Coordinating religious initiatives
The Consultation in Dakar, after Kampala, follows in the wake of the implementation of «interactive coordination networks for religious initiatives on HIV/AIDS.»
At the opening ceremony, the Catholic Archbishop (absent from Dakar) was represented by his Episcopal-Vicar, Father Alphonse Seck, who committed the «faithful of Senegal and Africa to taking up this considerable challenge, which places a serious burden on the future of the continent. Christian motivations are a powerful incentive», he stressed. The challenge is to allow the Church in Senegal (whose AIDS-Service is acknowledged as one of the best Senegalese structures for combating the pandemic), to be seen as a reliable, acknowledged partner in this fight to be carried out alongside medical experts, religious communities and other organisations from civil society.
«We reveal the love of Christ in places where suspicion and condemnation, exclusion and indifference so often overtake the good», noted Father Seck.
He recalled the words of Pope John Paul II who noted that the «fearsome
spread of HIV/AIDS throws out a double challenge to all of us, that the
Church must also take up the challenge in the area where it should: I mean
the area of the prevention of the disease and support for those individuals
affected by it.
Really effective action cannot take place unless we try
to uphold the common effort by contributing a constructive vision of human
dignity and its transcendent destiny».
Earlier, the representative of the local Imams had recalled Islam’s «message of peace»; while the representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the question of access to medication, research into vaccination and changes in behaviour.
For their part, the Church World Service representative, the Protestant Coordinating Committee against Combatting AIDS, and the Moderator of the Senegalese Protestant Church each stated the importance of the consultation process on which so many hopes were based.
Analysis and recommendations
By the end of the Consultation, those taking part regretted that Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, should be the area «most affected» by HIV/AIDS; where «infection rates are highest, access to healthcare the lowest and the social security and economic safety nets to help families to deal with the impact» are few and far between.
Current WHO/UNAIDS estimates referred to in the Consultation, state that of the 36 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS throughout the world, 25.3 million live in Africa, that is, almost 70% of the global infected population, in an area representing only 10% of the world’s population.
The AACC‘s analysis shows that this critical situation is caused, among other things, by factors such as «war, ethnic conflict, migration, poverty, lack of knowledge, illiteracy, lack of information» some retrogressive socio-cultural practices (such as the levirate, genital mutilation, etc.), «the lack of commitment by the Churches, governments and other related organisations, decadent morality», with the «negative influence of media and tourism». It remains to say that those taking part acknowledged their interest in the experience and results achieved by Senegal (only 1% of the population are HIV-positive), the interactions and exchange of views between countries and groups, the instructive testimonies given during the consultation process of people living with HIV/AIDS who still regret «the insensitivity», the lack of awareness and the indifference of some Churches.
In their recommendations following the Consultation, the Churches asked that the fight against HIV/AIDS should be «one of their priorities», and insisted that more stress be placed on «education and information-sharing» on HIV/AIDS, including these issues in study programmes in seminaries/theological institutions, as well as lay formation centres.
They suggested «facilitating interaction and sharing among and with people living with HIV/AIDS». In this way, the discrimination and stigmatisation from which the sick suffer, will be fought against.
Let religious communities be mobilised for this purpose and religious education restructured. Let the principal ethical values be promoted in order to establish a spirit of «solidarity» in order to promote a spirit of «solidarity» that can stimulate «public reaction and prevention activities».
Church leaders also recommended: Initiating and taking part in «campaigns at national, regional and global level to demand access to anti-virus medication»; committed lay people and pastoral workers to mobilise for a triumphant attack on the problem of HIV/AIDS; forming a «network among Churches and those involved in the ecumenical movement as well as with related organisations working on HIV/AIDS», while, at the same time, strengthening existing structures so as to avoid «duplication and competition».
The Churches also recommended: That «counselling services» be set up to deal with the psycho-social and economic needs of people and their families living with HIV/AIDS»; that socio-cultural risk practices be identified and that consequently people are educated in order to change their behaviour.
The AACC also stated the intention to involve people living with HIV/AIDS to a greater extent in planning the work relating to the pandemic, and that protective mechanisms should be set up, and procedures for caring for people infected and/or affected, as well as orphans and widows. Finally, those taking part called on the Churches to be more «attentive to the vulnerability» of women and children, to promote suitable programmes, to strengthen the capacity of women and young people to make «responsible choices», and to rouse their south-south and north-south comrades in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Along with the work, an announcement was made of a donation of 155 million CFA francs by the American Sandy River Foundation for a pilot project to support nutritional therapy for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
One topic among others for people’s thoughts: «Speak out and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy» (Proverbs, 31:9).
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