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Amid growing concerns over runaway corruption and public debt in Africa, the All Africa Conference of Churches on 21 September launched a policy brief on the challenges, saying the two were now inseparable in the continent.

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

The Launch of the Arusha Report Package will take place in Helsinki, on 20th May 2019 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm EEST.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

“The truth we are all sharing with the world is a living truth coming out of the life of people, it is not a dead dogma”, said Prof. Dr Dimitra Koukoura, from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, during a panel held at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

The World Council of Churches - Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance endorses a newly expanded collaboration on HIV between the Medicine Patent Pool and Gilead. On 4 October, the MPP announced a licence with Gilead Sciences for bictegravir, a new integrase inhibitor part of a once-daily, single-tablet HIV regimen currently filed for regulatory approval at the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Union.

Not nearly enough is being done to save the lives of the 20 million people who face famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Among them are 1.4 million children, who are at imminent risk of death unless aid reaches them immediately.

Eighteen women theologians from Africa and Asia began a journey of reflection and action around the theme “Women’s Mentoring for Ecumenical Leadership” in a 20-22 April consultation in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was convened by the WCC department on Ecumenical Theological Education and supported by the Foundation for Theological Education in Southeast Asia.

We are failing our children with HIV care was the stark message of a joint session of the interfaith and Catholic pre-conferences being held in Durban, South Africa in advance of AIDS 2016. Targets for childcare have been missed, medication is not suitable and we still need earlier infant diagnosis with half of infants infected dying within 24 months.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

The World Council of Churches-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance welcomes an agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool, the Government of South Africa and Abbvie, a research-based biopharmaceutical company, to work together to overcome supply challenges relating to second-line HIV and AIDS treatments lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r) in South Africa.

Situations of conflict, social fragmentation and political tensions in South Sudan, South Korea and Nigeria, as well as struggles of the churches in these countries seeking justice, peace and stability for all people and communities, formed the focus of a session on 3 July at the WCC Central Committee meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

A communiqué adopted at a WCC consultation describes human trafficking as a “serious human rights violation” and its consequences are “most horrific results of the economic and social disparities that increase the vulnerability of millions of people”.

In Africa, trade, aid and investments from the European Union (EU), United States (US) and China have not fully addressed the roots of poverty, inequality and ecological degradation. Churches, therefore, need to engage in a “development dialogue” to support alternative economic agendas, which can help eradicate poverty, while safeguarding Africa’s natural riches.