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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has made several new appointments this year, welcoming programme executives, a programme director, and a new dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

Even though flood survivors are displaced in some 2,000 relief camps across Kerala in south India, many of them observed the indigenous Malayali festival of Onam on 25 August in whatever way they could. The traditional festival, for thousands, carried an even more poignant meaning because the holiday celebrates the return of joy to the land: the story of the return of King Mahabali, considered to be a very kind and generous ruler, during a “golden period” in Kerala.

As Kerala, the southern state of India, nicknamed “God’s Own Country,” battles one of the worst flood disasters in a century, various religious communities have opened their doors to help homeless people.

On 29 June, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) published guidance aimed at helping humanitarian agencies attune their work to the faith and background of people affected by conflict, disaster and displacement.

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.

World Mental Health Day event on breaking the chains of stigma in mental health and restoring human dignity for persons with mental illness was held the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, sponsored by Frascarita International, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Fondation d'Harcourt and the Belgium government.

Despite huge progress since AIDS was first identified 35 years ago, the threat of AIDS still haunts much of the world. 21 million people currently have no access to treatment of HIV, and AIDS-related illnesses are now the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa. More than 2 million people are newly infected annually. The world is facing the catastrophe of 6 million AIDS-related orphans, and this figure is growing.

Apesar do imenso progresso desde que a AIDS foi identificada pela primeira vez há 35 anos, a ameaça da AIDS ainda amedronta grande parte do mundo. Atualmente, 21 milhões de pessoas não têm acesso ao tratamento do HIV e as doenças relacionadas à AIDS são agora a principal causa de morte de adolescentes na África. Mais de 2 milhões de pessoas são infectadas anualmente. O mundo está enfrentando a catástrofe de 6 milhões de órfãos relacionados à AIDS e esses números estão crescendo.

Com o objetivo de colaborar na resposta à crise de Ebola no Oeste da África, que já ceifou mais de 3000 vidas, o CMI reuniu representantes de organizações cristãs de ajuda humanitária e agências da ONU para aprenderem uns com os outros e aumentarem seus esforços.

Churches must commit themselves to create “healing and reconciling ministry that puts people at the centre and allow for a wholistic approach in health care”, states a declaration issued during an international symposium on “Christian Responses to Global Health and Development” in Tübingen, Germany.

Religion is a double-edged sword for women healing from violence and trauma, yet they find their way out of pain in amazing ways, say two scholars whose work investigates and analyses this.

Christian theology regarding all people as created in God's image can help overcome the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This and other views on the impact of HIV in Africa, its gender dynamics and the role of people living with HIV, were shared by Prof. Musa W. Dube, a former consultant of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) in a recent interview.

A staff member of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) has been elected as general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola (CICA). She will be the first woman to serve as general secretary of the CICA, a position she considers an “opportunity to mobilize African churches to do more” in healing HIV affected communities.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

On 28 September, the Tuvalu government declared Tuvalu to be in a state of emergency due to water shortage - the result of a five-month drought in the Pacific Island nation.

Violent conflict leaves wounds not only on the victim's body but also in the soul of the community. The healing of these invisible wounds was the subject of a 5-11 September regional consultation and training session for Southern African church representatives.

"Please remind the world that we are no longer at war," a high-ranking government official from Sierra Leone told an international ecumenical team visiting churches and ecumenical organizations in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 2 to 8 November.