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From 4 to 9 December 2023, thousands of people convened in Harare, Zimbabwe, for the 22nd International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA). Scientists, medical experts, advocates, people living with HIV, and civil society organizations came together under the theme “AIDS IS NOT OVER: Address inequalities; accelerate inclusion and innovation.” Participants from many faith traditions were a meaningful part of many of these representative groups but also took up a space of their own.

Prof. Ezra Chitando, World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy regional coordinator for Southern Africa, presented on behalf of WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, a paper on “Women’s Transformative Leadership and Africa’s Holistic Development: The Role of the Churches” during an international conference on leadership transformation and innovation in Africa.

Religious and traditional leaders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) participated in online consultations on the SADC Model Law on gender-based violence.

Religious leaders in Tanzania, after attending a workshop on HIV, stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing, released a communique that urges further empowering of religious leaders with skills and information to combat HIV.

A UNAIDS-PEPFAR faith-based initiative workshop, “Harnessing the Power of Partnerships,” started on 27 September in Tanzania with a focus on HIV stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing.

Religious leaders are participating in online training on male engagement in Zimbabwe, 12-16 July. The participants are drawn from diverse faith communities and will come up with action plans to enhance their work with boys and men.

“When the music changes, so must the dance,” counselled Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary at the Africa Association of United Methodist Theological Institutions Anglophone Group virtual conference on 9-10 April. Phiri gave a keynote address at the conference organized by Africa University, a Methodist-affiliated university in Zimbabwe.

Online training for church leaders in Zimbabwe is helping them find creative, positive theologies to navigate the many challenging facets of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a workshop on 29 June-1 July, Pastor Maxwell Kapachawo summed up the inspiration driving the group: “This training has come at the right time! We are facing the challenge of people on antiretroviral therapy defaulting on their medication due to faith healing claims.”

Frontline actions by African faith communities in mitigating against the novel coronavirus are being welcomed as timely, as groups move to support people left vulnerable by the pandemic.

Using lessons learned from building health-competent faith communities and responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic, African church leaders are doing their best to help their communities cope with the novel coronavirus.

Moravian women pastors and evangelists have said: “Enough is enough: no more rape and violence against women." Women leaders of the church marched in the streets of Mbeya town in Tanzania wearing black on Thursday to officially launch the Thursdays in Black global campaign to stand against rape and violence.

What if HIV were just a virus, and not also a taboo? This week in Tanzania, religious leaders gathered to address stigma and discrimination related to HIV.

Working with boys and men is critical to the success of the UNAIDS Fast Track agenda, said Pierre Somse, UNAIDS senior advisor for Fast Track Innovation, speaking at a symposium in Harare, Zimbabwe.

More than 130 theological educators from southern Africa met at the Association of Theological Institutions in Southern Africa Conference at the University of Zimbabwe, 18-22 July.

Meeting under the theme of the International Women’s Day, #BeBoldforChange, the St Dorcas United Methodist Church Dzivarasekwa Circuit in Harare, Zimbabwe, brought together on 2 April diverse actors to recommit to the struggle for gender justice.

Churches are engaged at the grassroots level throughout the world in the response to HIV and AIDS, but the struggle against the disease and those stigmatized for being HIV positive needs to continue, say church leaders.