WCC NEWS: WCC's HIV work reaches quarter-century mark

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC'S HIV WORK REACHES QUARTER-CENTURY MARK

For immediate release: 30 June 2011

The HIV pandemic has been on the world stage for more than three decades
now.  For most of that time the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its
member churches have been deeply involved in making churches and
theological institutions HIV-competent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WCC involvement with HIV and AIDS dates to late June 1986, when its
then-general secretary, the Rev. Dr Emilio Castro ,was first approached by
several churches and the World Health Organization (WHO) to counter the
stigma of HIV that was discouraging funding for medical and pastoral care
of those affected by the disease.

With much of its work focused on pastoral care, prevention, education and
advocacy the WCC Central Committee's hearing on AIDS in January 1987
affirmed “the right to medical and pastoral care regardless of
socio-economic status, race, sex, sexual orientation or sexual
relationship.”

Learning about AIDS: A Manual for Pastors and Teachers (1989) by Birgitta
Rubenson was the first WCC publication on AIDS, followed by A Guide to
HIV/AIDS Pastoral Counseling in 1990 and the two are still in demand.

Developing contextual biblical, theological, ethical, pastoral and
liturgical literature and distributing them free of charge have been among
the most significant contributions by the WCC.

Another milestone has been the decision by the WCC Assembly in 1998 to
focus on sub-Saharan Africa, the continent that has been most heavily
affected by the pandemic. According to UNAIDS reports it was home to 68
percent of all people living with HIV and 72 percent of those who died
from HIV-related illnesses in 2009. In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV has
orphaned more than 14 million children.

After intensive mapping exercises, consultations and studies with churches
and theological institutions that took place from 1999 to 2001, WCC
launched the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) as part
of the WCC's Health and Healing programme in cooperation with the All
Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and other stakeholders including
people living with HIV, among them priests.

EHAIA has trained thousands of church leaders, HIV activists and programme
officers. It has also mobilized theological institutions to integrate HIV
and gender studies into their curriculum in an endeavor to build
HIV-competent churches and theological institutions.

Most significantly EHAIA has provided leadership in interrogating the
intersection of gender power dynamics, sexual and gender based violence
and HIV in the churches.

Furthermore EHAIA has focused on empowering youth, women and men in
transformational leadership and in the critical study of masculinities and
femininities in our faith communities and social location.

In Africa, more women than men live with HIV. Today young people account
for 40 percent of new adult infections, that is to say of people over 14
years old in UNAIDS terminology, worldwide. More than 90 percent of all
new infections among children are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to
United Nations statistics.

"Addressing HIV and AIDS has been a journey of revelation,
self-interrogation and re-thinking our theologies and Christian mission as
millions continue to suffer and die needlessly" says EHAIA coordinator
Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge. "Churches and theological institutions in Africa
have much to share with the rest of the continents as we enter the fourth
decade with HIV."

In February the WCC Central Committee cited “the changing face of the
pandemic” and encouraged its member churches to persevere in their
efforts and to embrace the vision of the United Nations programme UNAIDS:
'Zero new infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths.'”

More information on EHAIA (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=36d95f70ea458283e9c7 )

EHAIA Impact Assessment, 2002–2009 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b21bf0447de659030f39 )

WCC Central Committee Minute on Strengthening the Ecumenical Response to
HIV/AIDS (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7573e7096d78d0b09903 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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