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How do parents disclose to their children that they are HIV positive? That is the challenge a participant at a recent consultation on 25-27 November on HIV and adolescents in Limuru, Kenya, faced for years. The middle-aged woman, who probably contracted HIV when it first emerged in Zambia, talked about just how difficult it was for her to disclose her serostatus to her children.

When 505 percent more girls than boys get infected with HIV, the virus that is in its fourth decade can, indeed, be said to wear a woman’s face.

The WCC Executive Committee discussed at their meeting 8-12 June, in Armenia, the alarming situation in South Sudan where people continue to be killed, raped, displaced and tortured. The humanitarian situation is reported to be deteriorating.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby generously granted an interview on the subject of “the pilgrimage of justice and peace” last week in São Paulo, Brazil. His visit to Brazil was part of a personal journey that has taken Welby to 31 Anglican provinces around the world since his enthronement as archbishop in 2013.

The WCC general secretary has given thanks for the life of Samuel Isaac, whom he said made contributions in the “search for unity” and in the churches’ “determination to respond to the needs of people”. Isaac, who served as deputy director of the WCC’s former Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service, passed away on 20 August in Chennai, India at the age 72.

Early struggles in developing a response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic were remembered by African women church leaders who gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to celebrate more than 30 years of their Christian ministry in the churches of their region.

A group of participants from a conference in Kenya celebrating more than 30 years of women's ministry in African churches were welcomed in worship on Sunday 22 June by the African Israel Nineveh Church, a WCC member church.

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.

The new, global and potentially life-saving Arms Trade Treaty, years in the making, is showing record progress toward coming into effect.

“The fight against proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) is critical for peace and security in Africa,” said Peter Omurangi Otim, head of the Peace and Security department of the African Union (AU) at a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, held from 22 to 25 November.

To challenge the increasing proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Africa, and to find effective ways to deter this trend, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will hold a consultation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to strategize common priorities and actions to combat proliferation of arms in the region.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls on the churches and congregations around the world to observe an International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. The day coincides with the International Day of Peace initiated by the United Nations.

Jessie Fubara-Manuel shares her views on violence, the HIV pandemic and struggles of women in churches to become part of the solution in Nigeria. She is a Presbyterian elder, a poet and a human resources consultant and has been involved with the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) programme.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Kigali discussed peace and security issues in Africa, with more than ninety church and ecumenical leaders. Together, they also reflected on Rwandan experiences of ethnic violence, genocide and church initiatives of reconciliation in the past.

During the past year thousands of people from North Africa have disappeared in the Sinai Desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel.

From Fiji to Rwanda, prayers and signs of commitment are being offered for the annual International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. This year’s observances are taking place in parishes and on Facebook , led by people who attended a World Council of Churches peace convocation in Jamaica this May.

A seven-member ecumenical solidarity team from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) will be visiting the West African country of Liberia 6-12 August at the request of the general secretary of the Liberia Council of Churches, Dr Benjamin Dorme Lartey.