AACC Mukono-Kampala Declaration

Mukono - Kampala, Uganda
15 – 17 January 2001

PREAMBLE

We 83 representatives of Churches, Christian organizations from Northern, Eastern, and Southern Africa¹ and partners from the North and South gathered together in Mukono - Kampala, Uganda, from January 15 – 17, 2001 for the Church Leaders’ Consultation on the Approach to the HIV/AIDS Crisis under the auspices of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) hosted by Uganda Joint Christian Council. 

Whereas HIV and AIDS affects the entire world, Africa has borne the brunt of it. Of the 36.1 million people with HIV/AIDS, 25.3 million (70% of them) live in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNAIDS, 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV prevalence rate of 10% and above with 6 of these registering over 20%. 

HIV/AIDS spares no group or sector in its ravages. Child mortality is increasing, as are the number of orphans. Life expectancy is dropping. Health services are stretched more than ever before. HIV/AIDS has hit the most productive age group – 15 – 49 years. It has depleted the national and household resources. Poverty has exacerbated the spread of HIV. 

There are many contributory factors to the spread of HIV/AIDS. They include:

• poverty that obstructs HIV control efforts and is made worse by HIV, a truly vicious cycle;

• the disease process: the mechanism and mutability of HIV have defied a cure or vaccine; there is a long period after infection when people feel well and can transmit the virus; effective health interventions are mostly unaffordable;

• global economic policies and injustices:
  - cuts in government health and education spending,
  - employment practices that disrupt families and promote unsafe sex;

• socio-cultural issues:
  - discussion of sexual issues is taboo in many cultures;
  - religious and social attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS have often been both unclear and contributed to social stigma;
  - cultural practices and perceptions which expose women in particular to the risk of HIV infection;

• war, conflict and insecurity have led to the spread of HIV and other STDs;

• Media messages and images about life and sexuality are conflicting. 

The Church is uniquely placed to combat HIV/AIDS at all levels from the individual to the global and to protect the marginalized and most vulnerable in society. We are compelled by the life example, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to love, think and act. 

During the consultation, we interacted with the reality of the pandemic through sharing with people living with HIV and AIDS and organizations offering support services to the affected people. We observed the effectiveness of community based initiatives, as well as church involvement in the national commitment in mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS. 

However, we raised pertinent issues that brought out the gaps and limitations in our intervention activities including: inadequate knowledge, the lack of a clear and common policy direction on prevention, care and support, the reluctance of some of our leaders to share their personal experience with HIV/AIDS to stimulate national conscience, and the persistent culture of silence that has promoted the AIDS stigma and inhibited effective responses in prevention, care and support. We noted the failure of many of our churches to commit local financial and human resources to HIV/AIDS related activities. We recognized the need to encourage, support and involve people living with HIV/AIDS. 

We therefore recommend that:

• individuals commit and involve themselves in prevention, care and support activities;
• churches mobilize and train their leaders and laity to run appropriate HIV/AIDS programmes;
• we hold one another accountable to our commitment to fight HIV/AIDS;
• our churches integrate HIV/AIDS activities within the available church support systems and create new support systems where necessary;
• church leaders involve themselves directly and act as role models in HIV prevention, AIDS care and support;
• our churches
  - apply their resources to meet the needs of intervention activities as practical expression of love.
  - protect, support and involve the marginalized and most vulnerable in society such as youth, women, people living with HIV/AIDS and the people with disabilities.
  - ecumenical bodies, sub-regional fellowships, faith based organizations and partners lobby and advocate for affordable and accessible treatment, and economic justice with IMF, the World Bank and wealthy creditor nations;
  - guide our supporting partners on the locally available capacities;
  - influence
  - monitor resource allocation and distribution to ensure that it benefits HIV/AIDS interventions.
• we increase North-South partnership and collaboration to help churches bridge existing gaps;
• churches develop guidelines for best practices in prevention, sexuality education, family life education, HIV prevention, AIDS care and orphan support;
• the media play a front-line role in education and dissemination. For this to be, the Church should be media oriented and aspire to tap the benefits of information technology;
• Church leaders condemn and discourage all harmful traditional practices.

And declare that though we come from different situations, we shall commit ourselves to the implementation of the above recommendations, in the power and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

So help us God.

1 Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda. and Zimbabwe