wfn.org | LWI 2009-012 FEATURE: From Isolated Actions to a Global Partnership

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FEATURE: From Isolated Actions to a Global Partnership
LWF AIDS Strategy Group Commends Bold Church Initiatives Despite
Great Challenges 

GENEVA, 11 March 2009(LWI)– Some of the contexts are strikingly
different, the needs and target groups vary, but the objectives
are similar. Whether working with traditional birth attendants to
end harmful cultural practices in rural Liberia, raising
awareness through youth drama groups among India’s tribal
communities in Orissa, or preparing weekly nutritious lunches in
the Greater Manchester area in Connecticut, USA, it is a
partnership that enables churches to increasingly seek to embrace
care, grace and justice in their response to the global HIV and
AIDS pandemic.

"Most KELC (Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church) parishes have
working groups for mothers and orphans. Training groups in the
church have resulted in open discussion without discrimination
about sensitive issues such as sexuality," said KELC Bishop
Zachariah W. Kahuthu, reporting on the church's AIDS response
initiatives at the bi-annual meeting of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) HIV and AIDS strategy group. 

At the 9 to 11 February meeting in Geneva, the ten-person group
comprising church leaders, regional AIDS desk coordinators and
representatives of partner churches affirmed the need to continue
with the objectives of the global LWF campaign and action plan
under the title "Compassion, Conversion, Care – Responding as
Churches to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic." Launched in 2002, the
initiative promotes active and courageous AIDS response by the
LWF churches within an ecumenical context. Its focus,
participants noted, should be sharpened to reflect the changing
contexts.

Kahuthu cited other important steps including prevention by
confronting harmful cultural practices such as female genital
mutilation and early marriages that increase vulnerability to HIV
transmission. Stigma reduction and awareness-raising on living
positively with HIV have become permanent features of the
church's ministry, with pastors preparing an AIDS-related sermon
each month to advocate behavior change and inclusivity of all, he
explained. 

In his welcoming remarks, Rev. Dr Kjell Nordstokke, director of
the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD), commended
the member churches and their partners for the long-standing
accompaniment of people affected by HIV, in some regions, since
the early 1980s. 

"We are encouraged that since the launch of the campaign, more
churches have taken major steps in their response to the pandemic
and its impact," he said. "HIV and AIDS is an issue of justice,
thus churches have to play a unique role. Our strategy in the
first place is to empower churches, lifting up the justice and
rights issues," he stressed.

The strategy group's meetings, organized by DMD's AIDS desk,
provide a forum to share experiences, exchange views on best
practices and challenges, with a view to reviewing and shaping
the overall focus of the organization's AIDS work at the global
and regional levels. 

>Prevention, Information Sharing

This year's meeting agreed on the need to increase support to
and collaboration among the member churches in order to enhance
prevention; scale up the focus on women, youth, and people living
with HIV as important target groups and resource persons; extend
theological training on AIDS; enhance coordination between the
global and regional AIDS response efforts; increase peer group
communication; and improve information sharing especially from
leadership level to the grassroots.

Participants representing churches in Africa, Europe, North
America and Latin America and the Caribbean pointed out that
stigma and discrimination in churches and communities remained a
major impediment to an effective response. Also attending were
representatives from the Anglican Communion, Ecumenical Advocacy
Alliance, World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS
Initiative in Africa -EHAIA, Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), and staff from other LWF units.

"Bishops are seen as key people in communities, and the church
leaders and their pastors have to use that key. One facilitates
and supports the other. Church leaders should explicitly say to
pastors: 'I support your efforts," remarked one participant.

The pandemic, they argued, while a health issue requiring urgent
attention from governments and other service providers remained
for the church a deeply theological matter. "It is not about the
virus, it is about the people; and focus should not be maintained
on the disease but rather on the discrimination and
stigmatization," remarked Argentine Lutheran pastor Lisandro
Orlov, the Latin American region coordinator for the LWF AIDS
response initiatives. 

"The duty of the church is to deal with the subject through
theology, not to keep quiet because we feel unsure," stated Rev.
Erik Berggren, Church of Sweden. LWF Assembly Theme, Resources
The strategy group members said they considered the July 2010
LWF Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany, as an opportunity to
provide greater visibility to the AIDS campaign, especially
through the event’s theme "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread." 

Appreciation was expressed for the LWF handbook, "Grace, Care
and Justice," a guide on Lutheran theological and pastoral
understandings on accompanying persons affected by HIV and AIDS,
also incorporating information on medical aspects, prevention,
home-based care, gender concerns and advocacy. DMD has
facilitated its translation into French and Spanish, and the
respective LWF member churches have produced Amharic, Estonian,
Georgian, Malagasy, Oromifa, Russian and Kiswahili language
versions, with more translations in progress.

Malagasy medical doctor Mamy Ranaivoson, based in Nairobi,
Kenya, as a program assistant for health ministries with the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), urged the LWF to
ensure "such available resources get down to the people" as the
pandemic still threatens millions of lives and livelihoods
especially among the poor.

The regional or national needs are quite different, thus
requiring contextual approaches for any meaningful response,
noted Ms Venah Mzezewa, coordinator of the Lutheran Communion in
Southern Africa (LUCSA) AIDS Action Program incorporating the
work of 17 churches. She pointed out that in 2007, Southern
Africa accounted for almost one third or 32 percent of all new
HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths globally.

DMD AIDS desk coordinator Rev. Dr Veikko Munyika underscored the
churches' efforts, saying, "The global AIDS statistics paint a
grim picture of the overwhelming challenges ahead. But we must
acknowledge the significant gains that have been made because the
church has spoken."

The LWF supports several AIDS response projects among its member
churches whose focus includes, among others, theological
education, communication, prevention, home-based care, and
awareness raising about the rights of people living with HIV. 

According to UNAIDS, an estimated 33 million people were living
with HIV globally in 2007. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most
heavily affected region, accounting for 67 percent of the global
figure, and for 72 percent of the estimated 2 million
AIDS-related deaths. (1,084 words) 

(Ms Tsiry Rakoto from the Malagasy Lutheran Church, currently
serving as an LWF intern with the Office for Communication
Services, wrote this article for LWI.)

More information about the LWF AIDS response initiatives is
available at:
www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/HIV-AIDS/LWF-HIV_AIDS.html 

*        *          *

(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 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.5 million. The LWF acts
on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information
service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not
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