Delegation of LWF AIDS Coordinators Attends Global AIDS Conference "Getting Churches and Their Leaders on Board"
GENEVA, 9 August 2006 (LWI) - Ms Mercy Chandral Devadhas is a counselor at an outpatient AIDS clinic of the Chennai-based United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India. A regular working day for the 38 year-old registered nurse includes carrying out blood tests, administering treatment for HIV symptomatic diseases, and counseling individuals living with HIV.
Devadhas is a member of a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) delegation of AIDS coordinators from the LWF member churches and field programs of the Department for World Service participating in the 16th International AIDS Conference (IAC), 13-18 August 2006 in Toronto, Canada. "Time to Deliver" is the theme of the conference to be attended by some 20,000 participants including policy makers, researchers, health care providers, activists and people living with HIV.
"The conference is an important forum for our coordinators to hear and see how others, including people living with HIV, are dealing with this issue," Dr Sheila Shyamprasad, the LWF consultant for HIV and AIDS in the LWF Department for Mission and Development said on the eve of the conference. She is leading the team of 21 AIDS coordinators to the IAC, which will also be attended by other representatives from the LWF member churches.
From 10 to 12 August, over 500 faith-based participants will hear and discuss central challenges to their response to HIV and AIDS at ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences under the theme "Faith in Action: Keeping the Promise." The LWF President Bishop Mark S. Hanson, and Ugandan Anglican Canon Gideon Byamugisha, co-founder of the African Network of Religious Leaders living with or personally affected by HIV or AIDS (ANERELA+) will address the gathering. An LWF-led workshop titled, "Getting Churches and Their Leaders on Board," will focus on the global strategies and processes that contribute to the successful transformation of churches and their leaders from "silence" to "courage and action." The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), the Geneva-based network mobilizing AIDS and trade justice advocacy, is co-organizing the pre-conferences.
Shyamprasad pointed out that while churches and their related organizations have made enormous contribution to AIDS work "they don?t always realize it, and many even feel that they do not measure up to expectations." She hoped this conference would help Devadhas and others realize the churches' significant role in the fight against AIDS through the innumerable networks of co-workers and volunteers actively involved in nearly all aspects of HIV and AIDS work, especially care for people living with HIV and orphans.
But she also expects the forum to be an eye-opener to the enormous challenges that still remain, and mentioned fighting AIDS-related stigmatization as a concern for the churches.
The LWF Office for Communication Services is represented on the EAA-coordin ated Ecumenical Media Team that will provide news and feature articles from the 16th IAC. (474 words)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
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