CHUCHES IN AFRICA MOBILISE ON AIDS
In most of sub-Saharan Africa, Christian churches have stood quietly by as
AIDS has decimated whole communities. "The disease has been so long
associated with illicit sexual activity that there's been an overpowering
silence on the issue," admits the Rev. Ted Karpf, HIV/AIDS missioner for the
Anglican Communion in southern Africa. But now a growing number of Western
NGOs and development agencies hope to persuade other African churches to
follow Uganda's example. There, religious leaders like Mugagura have helped
the government cut HIV infection rates from 14 percent in the early '90s to
8.3 percent in 2000 (and they're still falling.) "We've increasingly
recognized how important religion is, not only in the care and support of
people who are affected by AIDS, but also in our ability to prevent new
infections," says Dr. Paul De Lay, acting director of the Office of HIV/AIDS
at the United States Agency for International Development in Washington. De
Lay says the church is key not only in shaping people's moral decisions, but
in operating much of sub-Saharan Africa's infrastructure, where 40 percent
of health care is provided by missionary hospitals. Last December his office
unveiled a new program that offers grants to faith-based groups in
developing countries for AIDS prevention and AIDS treatment programs.

The learning curve will be steep. When HIV prevalence rates were presented
at a conference for African religious leaders in New York recently, the
audience reacted with gasps of disbelief. "I didn't know it was that bad in
Africa," said Msgr. John Aniagwu, a Roman Catholic priest from Nigeria,
where one in 10 adults is HIV-positive. In some cases, the clergy's
ignorance stemmed from blind faith. "We never preach about AIDS, because we
think Christians cannot commit adultery or indulge in bad sexual behavior,"
says the Rev. Gabriel Kpokame, who leads a Pentecostal church in Côte
d'Ivoire, which has the highest infection rate in West Africa.

Most ministers feel helpless to preach about prevention because of their
opposition to birth control, including condoms. Pernessa Seele, founder of
the Balm in Gilead - the U.S. nonprofit that organized the New York meeting
- says her mission is not to reverse that position, but to remind leaders
that AIDS is not only transmitted sexually. "The impact of AIDS is so great
in these countries that if we get our religious communities to talk about
getting tested, talk about the orphan problem, just talk about AIDS, period
dispelling the stigma that is a great accomplishment.

That's not to say that African churches have done nothing. In some cases,
they have spoken out more boldly than government leaders. In South Africa,
for example, where President Thabo Mbeki has questioned whether HIV causes
AIDS, religious leaders have campaigned for affordable AIDS drugs and
challenged the Vatican's stance on condoms. In Namibia, Catholic leaders
have endorsed the message "ABCD": Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms, or face
Death. And Karpf says leaders of the African indigenous church talk to their
followers about "the beauty of wrapping gifts." "It's taboo to talk about
body parts in polite society," he says. Some church groups operate clinics,
provide counseling to AIDS patients and their families and support AIDS
orphans.

There is still a long way to go. Most of those who attended Seele's four-day
conference left newly galvanized. Aniagwu, who had admitted to "not doing
much" about AIDS previously, will now teach his 20,000 congregants how to
prevent it. Mugagura, the Balm in Gilead's project director in Africa, says
openness is key. "I preach AIDS in and out of season," he says. "Whoever I
meet, I talk about AIDS. I am like a madman on AIDS." Of course, no one is
forgetting the lack of money, infrastructure and basic medical care across
sub-Saharan Africa. But here, too, religion has an important and practical
role: averting panic. "If there was no faith in God, there would be total
misery," says Mugagura. "Treatment with drugs is still expensive, and most
people cannot afford it. But they can afford to believe in God.

SOURCE: Newsweek International, 18/02/2002