wfn.org | LWF FEATURE: *We Could Have Saved More Lives*

["Frank Imhoff" <frank_imhoff@elca.org>]

FEATURE: "We Could Have Saved More Lives"
Church Leadership Challenged to Be Vanguards in Fight against HIV/AIDS 
 
GENEVA, 29 September 2004 (LWI) - "We are losing people including
pastors who could have given so much to the church because of their
expertise, talents and gifts; young people who could have turned Africa
into what it should be." 

This was how Ms Angelene Swart, president of the Moravian Church in
South Africa described the impact of HIV/AIDS on her church and country.
She was addressing a press briefing at the September 1-7 meeting of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council near Geneva. 

Statistics from South Africa's Department of Health indicate that by
2002, an estimated 5.3 million people in a population of more than 42
million were infected with the human immuno-deficiency virus that leads
to AIDS. More recent surveys reveal that one in every five young South
Africans aged between 15 and 24 was infected, with women more
disproportionately affected than men.

For Swart, one of the biggest challenges for church leadership is to
keep hope and love alive among the hurting people. "In the southern part
of Africa, we have started with compassion. The church has been
converted to compassion. The silence has been broken." But it was after
painstaking efforts, the Moravian church president explained. For a long
time church people had been ashamed to admit that they were HIV-positive
or had AIDS, and arguably so, according to Swart. "Throughout the ages
the church has seen itself as holy, without blemish. But we came to
realize that we must be open and confess our sins especially about the
silence on this disease." 

Openly Addressing Stigmatization, Discrimination and Isolation 

"Of course we regret the time it took the churches to respond," she
said. "If we had responded sooner we could have been proactive rather
than reactive and would have saved more lives. But we have a chance now,
and we grabbed it when it came along." Last year, South Africa is
estimated to have lost over 360,000 people to AIDS-related illnesses.

Now the leadership, and indeed the entire church are joining ranks
against the disease. Once afraid of being stigmatized and isolated,
pastors are now openly confessing that they are HIV-positive, and
becoming actively engaged in the church's efforts to fight the disease,
she told the journalists.

In the Moravian church, "everybody" is included in an ongoing HIV/AIDS
action plan that includes programs to increase awareness, organizing
advocacy groups, providing home-based care for the infected, training
church leaders and volunteers, and offering counseling and treatment.
Stigmatization, discrimination and isolation are being addressed, Swart
stressed. The Moravian church joined the LWF in 1975, and has 100,200
members.

"As a church we have no option but to help people experience the
abundant life that God has promised to all people," said Swart who is
also vice-president of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa. The
sub-regional body comprises 13 LWF member churches in eight countries. 

Central America: Correlation with Homosexuality Increases Stigmatization
of HIV-Infected Persons

Dr Alois Moeller, the El Salvador-based regional representative of the
LWF Department for World Service (DWS) program in Central America
pointed out that stigma and discrimination are major concerns in the
fight against the pandemic as much as myths and misconceptions about
human sexuality. There is a general assumption that HIV-infected persons
are also homosexual. One of the main objectives of the DWS regional
program is HIV/AIDS awareness raising, especially among leadership and
young people, Moeller explained. 

More than 2 million people are said to be living with HIV in the Latin
America and Caribbean region. At least 100,000 AIDS-related deaths were
reported in the past year.

Rev. Victoria Cortez Rodriguez, president of the Nicaraguan Lutheran
Church of Faith and Hope concurred with Moeller, describing the stigma
around HIV/AIDS in Nicaraguan society as fierce. Because of the
correlation with homosexuality, the HIV/AIDS infected, and affected, are
despised in Latin American culture. "People would prefer to die at home
than go to hospital, where they are treated badly," Rodriguez, who is
LWF vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean region, said in a
related interview.
 
"People will not say that they have AIDS because they fear they will be
ostracized by their family and community. The church has to step in to
help such persons and let them know that God loves them as much as
anyone else."

Nicaragua, with an HIV prevalence of 0.2 percent and an estimated 6,000
people living with HIV/AIDS, reported around 500 AIDS-related deaths by
the end of 2003.

'Head-in-the-Sand' Approach Weakens in Nicaraguan Lutheran Church

Rodriguez, who pioneered an HIV-AIDS education program within the
Lutheran church said "the churches are in denial. They say that AIDS is
God's judgment on sinners. They do not want to admit that AIDS is in
their churches because that would mean that their people are just like
the rest of society." 

She stressed that it had not been easy but the "head-in-the-sand"
approach was weakening in the Lutheran church of 42 parishes and a total
membership of 4,000. The pastors' initial reluctance has gradually
evolved into action with AIDS-awareness workshops conducted in 20
parishes so far, and another 15 planned for next year.

Swart, Moeller and Rodriguez affirmed their efforts as an important
contribution to the LWF global campaign against HIV/AIDS launched in May
2002, and its action plan titled "Compassion, Conversion, Care:
Responding as Churches to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic." The campaign aims at
especially engaging the LWF member churches in open discussion about the
disease and promoting their active participation. Advocacy against
stigma and discrimination, and working with people living with HIV and
AIDS (PLWHA) are significant aspects of the campaign.

But LWF involvement in AIDS work began way back in 1988, even before the
disease was declared a global pandemic, according to Dr Christine Sadia,
the Federation's HIV/AIDS consultant. She is responsible for the
technical screening of HIV/AIDS applications submitted to the LWF for
funding. She also provides consultative services in accompanying member
churches in their endeavors to implement the HIV/AIDS campaign in an
ecumenical manner where possible, and building up capacity. Worldwide,
the LWF is engaged with governments, bilateral partners,
non-governmental and community-based organizations, including PLWHA in
confronting HIV/AIDS-related issues. (1,037 words)

(By Linda Macqueen, editor of The Lutheran, magazine of the Lutheran
Church of Australia. Macqueen was co-opted media person at this year's
Council meeting.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 65 million Lutherans. 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.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be
freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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