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World Day of Health and the Veneration of the Holy Cross: two celebrations with significant meaning

This year, the World Day of Health, which is celebrated annually on 7 April, falls on the third Sunday of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church that is dedicated to the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

11 April 2024

Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas

WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing will consider “the whole person”

In a World Council of Churches (WCC) video interview, moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas reflects on the direction of the commission, its vision for considering “the whole person,” and how it plans to involve young people.

07 March 2024

Eileen Peralta and her 12-year old daughter Erin, who has autism, sit on the step of their home in the Malate neighborhood of Manila. They're being visited by other members of Kaisahan ng Magulang at Anak na Maykapansanan (Kaisaka), a mothers' group that carries out community based rehabilitation with families which have members with disabilities.

Recognizing autism as a disability

As a parent of an autistic child, it is important for me not only to embrace and accept that my child has autism but also to raise awareness on autism. We are all called upon to champion acceptance, embrace, appreciate, and accept autistic people as valued members of the community.

25 July 2023

Ann Kioi

Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata: “God summons us to take action that is hope giving”

Below, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches (WCC) director of Public Witness and Diakonia, reflects on the relevance of ecumenical diakonia and public witness today.

16 March 2023

Honduras_Hawkey_World_Renew_drought_20140805_919

Overcoming obesity—more than changing one's behaviour; it is a matter of ensuring systemic justice!

We mark 4 March as World Obesity Day. Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a health risk. Obesity has more than tripled since 1975, and more than 1 billion people are obese in the world today.

04 March 2023

Masimba Kuchera

Pandemic and pedagogy: what are the valuable lessons?

Rev. Prof. Dr Benjamin Simon, World Council of Churches programme executive for Ecumenical Theological Education, offered reflections after a December hybrid conference entitled “Theological Education: Pandemic and Pedagogy,” held at the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana. The conference was co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and Evangelische Mission Weltweit. The conference drew more than 80 participants from all over the world.

21 December 2022

Women suffering from fistula need urgent help

Rose Mantey qualified as a state registered nurse in Ghana in 1996, and completed training in midwifery in 2002. In 2005 she started working in a maternal and child health community clinic, attached to the Mercy Women’s Catholic Hospital in Mankessin, Ghana.

09 December 2022

Mwai Makoka

Pastor Godson Lawson Kpavuvu, president of the Methodist Church of Togo, Photo: Methodist Church of Togo

Pastor Godson Lawson Kpavuvu: “God heals, but people must also be treated”

Pastor Godson Lawson Kpavuvu, president of the Methodist Church of Togo, is also chair of the International Reference Group of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme (WCC-EHAIA). Involved with WCC-EHAIA from the beginning, he reflects below on what it’s like to be, as he describes, “one of the veterans of the struggle.”

02 September 2021

Media advisory

COVID-19 vaccination in Porto Alegre, Brazil, June 2021.

Dialogue on COVID-19 and Consequences for Global Multilateral Cooperation

On Monday, 30 August, from 17:00 to 18:30 CEST, all media are invited to learn more about urgent efforts by leading NGOs and other organizations to sustain a global, multinational dialogue and cooperation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

18 August 2021

Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata reflects on COVID-19 impact in Zimbabwe—and what gives him hope

Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata is general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. Below, he reflects on the negative impacts of a third wave of a COVID-19 in the nation, and what people most need.

04 August 2021

Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton reflects on how churches can head off vaccine hesitancy

Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton is ecumenical officer for the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and presiding bishop of the Fifth Episcopal District. Below, she shares her reflections on the vital role of churches in reducing vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine equity.

08 July 2021

Health-Promoting Churches Volume II:

A handbook to accompany churches in establishing and running sustainable health promotion ministries

Based on the premise that the local congregation is the primary agent for healing, and each individual member has a unique gift to contribute to this healing ministry, this book provides guidelines, resources and tools to equip and support local Christian congregations in starting a sustainable health ministry.

It provides a theological and public health basis of the Health Promoting Churches (HPC) model and a guide on organizing the HPC programme sustainably.

28 April 2021

WCC answers your questions about vaccines

On World Immunization Week, the World Council of Churches is joining UNICEF and other organizations across the world in encouraging vaccinations for global health. Below, Dr Mwai Makoka, WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, answers often-asked questions about vaccines. He provides some history of vaccines, reflections on the role of faith-based groups, and why children and others are so vulnerable if they don’t receive vaccines.

26 April 2021

Voices of Lament, Hope, and Courage

A Week of Prayer in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

To commemorate a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic, the World Council of Churches provides this resource for a week of prayer.

This book was designed as a resource for use in prayer groups, congregational services, personal prayer, and in the pastoral accompaniment of those directly affected in different ways by the pandemic. The prayers, messages, reflections, statistics and WCC resources have roots in faith challenged by mourning, fear and uncertainty in different contexts worldwide.

18 March 2021

World Cancer Day

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17)

Many verses in scripture accurately portray some of the emotions around cancer: pain and suffering, mortality and loss, comfort and redemption, faith and eternity.

04 February 2021

Mwai Makoka

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde at the CCIA meeting in Brisbane, Australia

Perspective to END Special Anti-Robbery Squad protests in Nigeria

Nigerians, like the rest of the world, have had to battle the threat of COVID-19 since the beginning of the year 2020.

23 November 2020

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde

Ecumenical Global Health COVID-19 Response Framework

An A4 pamphlet, the framework identifies core challenges and response strategies for a global ecumenical response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also recommends specific actions. This tool provides practical, simple guidelines for action through which faith communities can have an impact for their members and beyond in these challenging times.

12 November 2020

Training Manuals and Resource Documents for Addressing HIV in Africa

Positive Masculinities and Femininities

Handbook for Adolescents and Young People in Faith Communities in Nigeria

Continuing its mission of providing practical pastoral resources to counter HIV and AIDS, WCC’s Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Advocacy and Initiatives (WCC EHAIA) has published a half dozen manuals for addressing key concerns of those most affected by the disease. Context-driven and language-specific, the six pieces yet tackle topics pertinent to the whole of Africa and beyond and can be employed to structure workshops and to inform resource persons themselves.

19 October 2020