wfn.org | South African Anglican bishops agree to HIV/AIDS testing

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Title South African Anglican bishops agree to HIV/AIDS testing

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens

2000-151

South African Anglican bishops agree to voluntary HIV/AIDS 
testing

by Jan Nunley

     (ENS) Anglican bishops in southern Africa have agreed to 
undergo voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and to encourage clergy and 
lay leaders of their diocese to be tested with them.

     At a synod meeting held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, the 
bishops unanimously resolved to take the test "in the near 
future."

     The bishops said the decision was reached in light of the 
AIDS pandemic in southern Africa, and with concern that the 
church has not been in the forefront of the struggle to fight the 
spread of HIV/AIDS. The bishops also expressed determination to 
demonstrate the church's solidarity with people infected with and 
affected by HIV/AIDS.

     In a statement, South African archbishop Njongonkulu 
Ndungane declared that the bishops "believe that history will 
measure this country's slow response to the pandemic in human, 
not statistical terms, and that the inherent injustices will be 
judged as serious a crime against humanity as apartheid.

     "What is becoming increasingly clear is the futility of 

looking to government for a solution. At the very least we need to 
apply pressure on our political leaders to change this 
situation. We need an urgent strategic planning meeting of all 
interested parties so as to develop a plan of action and we need 
to move fast," he said.

     "It has set the ball rolling in terms of breaking the steel 
band of silence which makes so many people feel the need to keep 
quiet about being positive," Ndungane said of the testing 
decision. "We hope, by setting an example, to encourage others to 
be tested. As community leaders we also hope to remove the stigma 
attached to HIV/AIDS."

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of the Episcopal 
Church's Office of News and Information.