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WCC ambassadors of the Thursdays in Black campaign are standing behind a joint statement that urges both awareness and protection from the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and gender-based violence.

Bishop Staccato Powell is president of the board of bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, a founding member church of the World Council of Churches (WCC). His long service with the WCC includes attending four assemblies and serving on many governing bodies, including the current Central Committee.

The World Association for Christian Communication is creating a rapid response fund to help support grassroots community media outlets that provide accurate, trusted coronavirus-related information to vulnerable people who often cannot access mainstream media. Individuals and organisations are encouraged to contribute to the fund.

It’s tough living at home in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic watching those infected with the COVID-19 virus rise in numbers and the death toll climb. But think of the world’s refugees and people on the move.

The World Health Organization has published “Practical considerations and recommendations for religious leaders and faith-based communities in the context of COVID-19,” a document and risk assessment tool for religious leaders, faith-based organizations, and faith communities in COVID-19 education, preparedness, and response.

In a historic joint pastoral statement released on 26 March, the World Council of Churches and Regional Ecumenical Organizations affirmed the urgency of standing together to protect life amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WCC is offering member churches some resources with a human face during the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of eight resource people has been made available to consult on how churches can discern their roles during the coronavirus pandemic, how they can adapt as faith communities, and how they can connect and share with each other.

مع بداية هذا الأسبوع الجديد، يتحدث الأمين العام لمجلس الكنائس العالمي، القس الدكتور أولاف فيكيس تفيت، عن مسألة تغير عمل مجلس الكنائس العالمي خلال جائحة فيروس كورونا.

In a pastoral letter to WCC member churches and ecumenical partners, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom urged people to give highest priority to “doing whatever we can do to protect life” and “This is a time to touch each other’s hearts, by what we say, what we share, what we do – and what we do not do – to protect the life God loves so much.”

As the world grapples with the spread of the new coronavirus, churches are finding ways to continue their traditions, but now by virtual means. On the coming Sabbath, churches around the world will engage in prayer, not publicly – as the church moves out of big public buildings – but inside the private spaces of homes.

In the past several months, beginning with an epidemic that quickly became an emergency situation, COVID-19 has escalated into a global crisis, spreading fear and uncertainty everywhere.

The WCC, via a specific landing page on its website, is reaching out to the worldwide fellowship with a sense of pastoral care amid the coronavirus pandemic.

People pray daily for an end to the coronavirus-COVID-19 that is gripping the world, turning human interaction into a virtual affair and upending lives everywhere during a struggle against a silent enemy about which little is known.

The WHO Director-General has convened a Civil Society Working Group on non-communicable diseases to strengthen civil society contribution to combat NCDs. In this regard, the WHO has appointed the WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, Dr Mwai Makoka, to this working group.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its commitment to supporting health and wellness in Africa before the 69th session of World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa. The regional committee, comprising health ministers from the 47 countries, is the governing body of the World Health Organization in the African region. The 69th session was held in Brazzaville, Congo from 19–23 August.

For HIV-infected people in Nairobi, the Eastern Deanery Aids Relief Program makes a difference. By providing a quarter of the antiretroviral therapy care, it helps around 26,000 HIV-infected people in the Kenyan capital to live normal lives.

Ten years ago, while studying to become a nurse, Khadijah Abdullah was confronted at a hospital with a rather difficult patient, a Muslim living with AIDS who was also coping with several other medical issues. When Abdullah realized how isolated and stigmatized this patient was in his own faith community, she became aware of her prejudices and ignorance and she decided to do something about it.

Ours is a world of migration. Yet myths and mystification persist in our understanding of the journey – particularly when it comes to transmittable diseases such as HIV.

On 20-21 February, UNAIDS, the WCC and the International Catholic Migration Commission are hosting a workshop on HIV among migrants and refugees. The aim of the workshop is to identify a roadmap for strengthening faith-based organizations’ engagement in collaboration with other sectors.

“I see this approach of ‘a healthy church’ as a setting that will hopefully go global,” says Dr Suzanne Jackson of the University of Toronto, who directs the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion.