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AIDS 2016 Media Guide

Meeting the ambitious Fast Track targets for 2020, and the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, will require engaging with and supporting religious leaders, faith-based organizations and people of faith, many of whom have been deeply involved in all aspects of the HIV responses since AIDS was first identified 35 years ago.

In Nigeria, end to stigma begins in the Bible

After leading a workshop in Nigeria covering HIV and AIDS response, Jessie Fubara-Manuel recalls when AIDS response was in a much darker era. “The first stage of response was full of fear, characterized by judgment and rejection, a feeling that AIDS was a punishment from God,” she said.

Faith community issues call to action: end AIDS by 2030

At an interfaith prayer service on 7 June, people from diverse faith communities issued a call to action to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The call focuses on reducing stigma and discrimination; increasing access to HIV services; defending human rights; and ensuring testing and treatment for all, including children.

Interfaith service to precede UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS

A clear, global interfaith call to action to end the AIDS epidemic will be unveiled at an interfaith service on 7 June at 5:30 p.m. in the Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza in New York City. The service will precede an 8-10 June UN High Level Meeting on AIDS at which world leaders will adopt a concise, action-oriented Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. The declaration will express the commitment of nations to HIV response, and serve as a point of accountability for achieving the goals for ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.

WCC video calls for strong action to end AIDS epidemic

“Leave no one behind.” That’s the urgent message of the World Council of Churches’ general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a video released in preparation for a United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, 8-10 June.

United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS

A UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS (HLM) is being held 8-10 June at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Through the HLM, the international community can demonstrate commitment to accelerating the HIV response with the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic. Concerted advocacy by people of faith has been a vital part of efforts to encourage governments to develop and adopt a Political Declaration with new and bold commitments – matched by funding commitments – to scale up prevention, treatment, care and support, eliminate stigma and discrimination, uphold human rights, and ensure the engagement of communities most affected.

Churches commit to “All In!” campaign to end adolescent AIDS

Sexual and reproductive health services must be not just "youth-friendly" but also “male- and female-friendly" and "youth participatory" so that young men and women gain access to the information and services they need and want, agreed adolescents who attended a workshop in Lomé, Togo on 24-25 March.

Passion and Compassion

The Ecumenical Journey with HIV
Manoj Kurian

From despair to hope, Christian engagement with HIV has challenged stigma and discrimination - and also entailed genuine transformation in the church themselves.

It is difficult to overstate the challenge posed by the advent of AIDS in the 1980s—to the world at large and also to the churches.

Alongside the medical challenge, an enormous pastoral task quickly arose: to minister to those living with HIV or dying from AIDS-related causes, but also to their families and others affected by the epidemic. But perhaps as wrenching, AIDS revealed a level or layer of intolerance and judgment and an underlying moral theology that could barely see the patient for the sinner. All the more remarkable, then, that churches around the world, led by the World Council of Churches, were able to respond with passion and compassion and to recognize, confront, and surmount the deep religious and cultural prejudices against those living with HIV through successive programmatic initiatives.

Beginning in the early 1980s and based on extensive interviews and primary sources, as well as key decisions, statements and texts, this is the story of the ecumenical movement’s determined, persistent and transformative wrestling with HIV and with the deep pain and tough questions posed by it to the religious community. The book offers a rich narrative of the persons and programmes involved, the lessons learned, and perspectives on how this experience can further equip faith communities to face HIV and future challenges to health and healing.  With timeline and biography

Human rights standards must guide global response to HIV, WCC urges

Policymakers, programme managers, and service providers — including faith communities — must use more human rights norms and standards to guide a global response to HIV, said a statement submitted by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, an ecumenical initiative of the WCC, to the Human Rights Council on 11 March in Geneva.

Faith in action: for access equity rights now

Why should people of faith get engaged in AIDS2016? - The first time I took part in the International AIDS Conference was in Mexico in 2008. I was overwhelmed and fascinated. I was impressed by the large number of people HIV could mobilize, and yet I knew many people around the world had no idea of the difference between HIV and AIDS, and even worse, many did not want to know about it.

Interfaith Pre-Conference at AIDS 2016

16 - 17 July 2016

The International AIDS Conference (18-22 July) provides extensive opportunities for sharing and networking across all levels of care and response to the epidemic. It draws tens of thousands of people every two years. The WCC-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is coordinating an Interfaith Pre-Conference to bring faith-based participants together to share good practices, networking, and discussion of the faith-based response to current challenges in responding to HIV.

Durban, South Africa