At an online roundtable hosted by the All Africa Conference of Churches, male “champions for gender justice” shared their ideas and insights during their yearlong service as men who are helping to prevent gender-based violence.
The World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative and Advocacy programme, in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, organized a UNAIDS-PEPFAR faith initiative for religious leaders in Cameroon on HIV risks and vulnerabilities among displaced persons, migrants and refugees.
Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”
Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”
A webinar hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 26 November will explore “Conflict Zones and Covid-19: A call to compassion.” Speakers from Cameroon, Nigeria, South Sudan, Lebanon, Belarus and Colombia will offer their insights on how conflict exacerbates the conditions for contracting and treating COVID-19 among civilians caught in the crossfire, especially women.
In Cameroon, adolescents and young people ages 15-24 partly account for high new HIV infections, which largely occur through unprotected sexual intercourse. This current HIV prevalence among youth may compromise the present and future development of this country.
Women from churches across Africa have gathered in Kenya to focus on the achievements, challenges and opportunities of women's ministry in African churches over the past 30 years, as well as their responses to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.