wfn.org | [IOOC] Partners Unite to Fight Aids, Family Violence in Romania

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES (IOCC)

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Web: www.iocc.org ? E-mail: news@iocc.org

For immediate release

April 20, 2005

PARTNERS UNITE TO FIGHT AIDS, FAMILY VIOLENCE IN ROMANIA

     Bucharest, Romania (IOCC) ? Romanians and Americans have joined
forces in an ambitious partnership to fight HIV/AIDS and family violence in
Romania, a country that faces an alarmingly high level of HIV-positive
teen-agers.

     The project brings together the Romanian Orthodox Church,
International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), and the Romanian Ministry of Education.

     On Tuesday, April 19, His Beatitude Patriarch Teoctist of the
Romanian Orthodox Church and representatives of the other organizations met
at the Patriarchal Palace in Bucharest to launch the three-year initiative,
which will spread a faith-based message of AIDS prevention and
nondiscrimination throughout Romania.

     Seventy percent of Romanians living with HIV/AIDS are teen-agers.
Those who are orphans and living in state care will have to fend for
themselves once they turn 18, and many face the grim prospect of a life of
poverty and unemployment.

     Against this setting for a public health crisis, the Romanian
Orthodox Church and IOCC offer the prospect of hope and social change.

     The Church and IOCC will work together to empower young people and
adults with better AIDS awareness and methods of prevention by adding
social and health sessions to religion courses, and by training clergy and
lay people to more effectively care for and assist people living with HIV/AIDS.

     The $5.4 million project includes $2 million in support from USAID
and $3.4 million in support from the Romanian Orthodox Church, IOCC and the
Ministry of Education. IOCC?s contribution was bolstered by the generous
support of Romanian Orthodox Christians in North America.

     ?Working closely together with the Romanian Orthodox Church, we seek
to awaken a new sense of hope and promise among Romanians so that they can
effectively deal with the scourge of HIV/AIDS and prevent its further
spread,? said IOCC Executive Director Constantine M. Triantafilou. ?We also
want to motivate a more compassionate response toward people living with
HIV/AIDS and victims of family violence.

     About 2,600 Church personnel, including priests and religion
teachers, in 13 dioceses (15 counties) will receive instruction in AIDS
awareness and family violence prevention, as well as training in counseling
techniques and in mobilizing their own parish communities on behalf of the
victims.

     Community-based services will be implemented through a series of
grassroots initiatives, half of them youth-led and for teen-agers, and
another half through concerned parishioners organized into Philanthropic
Committees.

     Through educational classes and Youth Initiative Clubs, the project
will reach nearly 350,000 young people with a faith-based message of
abstinence and faithfulness to one partner, as well as millions of other
Romanians, whether churchgoers or not, through a public education and media
campaign. These initiatives will deliver a message of compassion and
non-discrimination to help overcome the social stigma against people living
with HIV/AIDS.

     ?Because of its unique place in Romanian society, the Church can play
a pivotal role in spreading knowledge about HIV/AIDS and can provide the
moral leadership necessary for a more effective response to this growing
problem,? Triantafilou said.

     Information about AIDS is largely unavailable in rural areas of
Romania, and public knowledge of the benefits of early detection, as well
as information about treatment options, is all too often lacking,
Triantafilou said.

     Among those attending the April 19 ceremony were His Beatitude
Patriarch Teoctist; U.S. Embassy Chargé d?Affaires Thomas Delare;
USAID-Romania Mission Director Rodger D. Garner; Romanian Minister of
Education Mircea Miclea; Merce Gasco, M.D., of the John Snow Institute, a
technical assistance partner; IOCC officials; and other Church and civic
leaders.

     IOCC has been active in Romania since 2000, when it began providing
emergency relief to victims of seasonal flooding. Since then, IOCC has
helped open a multi-purpose youth center in Bistrita, implemented a welfare
reform program to strengthen families and prevent child abandonment in
southwest Romania, and provided assistance to flood victims working to
rebuild their homes.

     Founded in 1992, IOCC is the official humanitarian aid agency of the
Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA).
To learn more about its programs worldwide, please visit www.iocc.org.

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For media inquiries, please contact IOCC Communications Associate Stephen
Huba at 1-877-803-4622 or shuba@iocc.org.