wfn.org | WCC NEWS: World AIDS Day: Shout from the rooftops: AIDS is not a punishment

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 27/11/2008 10:15:58

20 YEARS OF WORLD AIDS DAY IS TIME FOR FAITHS TO 'TAKE STOCK'
By Peter Kenny (*)

Faith leaders "should shout from the rooftops that AIDS is not a
punishment from God but a medical condition which is
preventable", the former leader of South Africa's Anglican
church, Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, has told the World Aids
Campaign.

Ndungane was speaking in an interview for the Amsterdam- and
Cape Town-based World Aids Campaign, founded by UNAIDS, ahead of
the 20th anniversary of the marking of 1 December as World AIDS
Day. The campaign says World AIDS Day is a time of "global
solidarity for a pandemic that has led to over 25 million deaths,
with an estimated 33 million people currently living with HIV
worldwide".

Ndungange, who now heads African Monitor, a continental
development agency, said that AIDS was "manageable and treatable
although not curable", as well as not being a punishment from
God.

He added, "Faith leaders should hence commit themselves to
working towards achieving a generation without AIDS, and show
loving care and support for those infected. They should develop
and implement imaginative strategies to fight stigmatisation,
ensure that infected people have access to the essential needs
like nutrition and medical care, as well as encourage those not
infected to stay uninfected."

Linda Hartke, who heads the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy
Alliance (EAA), which campaigns for food and trade justice as
well as for those who are HIV positive, said the 20th anniversary
of World AIDS Day was a time "to take stock of the faith-based
response to HIV and AIDS".

The EAA is composed mainly of Christian organizations –
including the World Council of Churches – but it also counts
amongst its members agencies from other religions. 

Hartke told Ecumenical News International, "We can be inspired
by the committed efforts of people of faith all over the world
who have for so long provided care and support … for a concerted
global response that will reverse the spread of HIV, and
eventually eradicate AIDS."

She noted, "Religious leaders living with or personally affected
by HIV, and who have spoken out against stigma, discrimination
and injustices and vulnerabilities that fuel the spread of HIV,
have particularly strengthened and expanded effective faith-based
responses."

Still, Hartke had cautioned earlier in November that with
millions still infected each year "and with two-thirds of adults
and 85 percent of children urgently needing treatment, we need
full and committed leadership and action to reach universal
access to prevention, treatment, care and support".

Hartke said an estimated 2.1 million children aged under 15 are
living with the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, "Yet children remain largely
forgotten in global and national efforts to address HIV and AIDS.
This is especially the case for children's access to diagnostic
testing for HIV and medicines to treat HIV, known as
antiretrovirals. Currently, only 15 percent of children in need
of HIV treatment have access to it." 

(*) Peter Kennyis the editor-in-chief of Ecumenical News
International (ENI - http://eni.ch). 

World Council of Churches' resources on HIV and AIDS

>WCC programme on HIV-competent churches:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3418

Ecumenical HIV an AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA): 
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3131

>HIV/AIDS related statements and tools: 
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3543

Statement on churches' compassionate response to HIV and AIDS
adopted by the WCC central committee in September 2006: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/central-committee/geneva-2006/reports-and-documents/final-report-of-the-public-issues-committee-adopted.html#c10110

Additional information: 

Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

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 Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.