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“Stigma, discrimination, lack of access to information and appropriate prevention measures aggravate the spread of HIV and AIDS,” says Samuel Matsikure, who participated in a dialogue sponsored by Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy of the WCC.

Trained by the WCC programme EHAIA, church leaders and activists in Kenya are working hard to address HIV and AIDS. They focus on HIV prevention measures, accessibility to the treatment and most importantly eliminating the discrimination and stigma attached to HIV, prevalent even within church communities.

The moral imperative to end extreme poverty and advance proposed Sustainable Development Goals was the focus of an event hosted by the WCC on 24 September at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City, United States.

When a WCC meeting on ecumenical HIV and AIDS response concluded last week in Limuru, Kenya, its message to the global HIV and AIDS community was terse: traditional ways of tackling the pandemic have failed.

A new report titled “Defeating AIDS–Advancing global health” was appreciated as a significant resource in encouraging an effective global AIDS response by Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, associate general secretary of the WCC.

Global health and religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have noted the essential role faith-based organizations play in providing health services.In a consultation entitled: “The future of faith-based health care provision”, participants related some of their experiences in responding to the global Ebola crisis.

The ACHAP has urged governments in the region to engage strongly with church-based health bodies as crucial partners in achieving Universal Health Care, at the conclusion of its biannual meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

A resource book titled Jamaica Praying: a manual for HIV and AIDS sensitive liturgies and sermons was launched last week by the United Theological College of the West Indies. The resource aims to equip church workers to offer a sensitive response to people affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

United Nations leaders and the WCC have agreed that the international community and faith leaders need to cooperate more on working to fight the scourge of the deadly Ebola virus.

In Africa, where up to 40 percent of the health care facilities are provided by faith based organizations, Dr Mirfin Mpundu, executive director of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network, says that due to their unique position churches can play a special role in eliminating HIV and AIDS and bringing improvements in the lives of people living with the virus.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a public health issue. It is a multi-layered social issue – an issue churches in West Africa should not ignore,” says Rev. Godson Lawson, a pastor in the Methodist Church in Togo, a country where 110,000 people are living with HIV and 6,600 lives have been lost to the pandemic, according to recent UNAIDS estimates.

Als Reaktion auf die Ebola-Krise versammelten sich auf Einladung des ÖRK Vertreter von christlichen Hilfsorganisationen und der Vereinten Nationen, um voneinander zu lernen und ihre Hilfsmaßnahmen zu intensivieren.

To respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, which has taken more than 3,000 lives, the WCC brought to the table representatives of Christian aid organizations and United Nations agencies to learn from each other and to escalate their efforts.

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.

Father Ioan Sauca of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Peter Prove, a Lutheran lawyer and international affairs expert from Australia, have been named to key staff positions in the WCC.

Kamerun ist laut einem Bericht von UNAIDS ein HIV/AIDS-Hochprävalenzland. Was tun die Kirchen des Landes, um die von HIV/AIDS heimgesuchten Gemeinschaften in ihrem Heilungsprozess zu unterstützen? Inwiefern kann die christliche Theologie eine Inspirationsquelle für die Heilung und für den Umgang mit Diskriminierungen sein, aufgrund derer Frauen der Krankheit stärker ausgesetzt sind?

Cameroon has been identified as a nation with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, according to a UNAIDS report. What are churches in the country doing to aid in healing communities faced with the threat of this disease?

Faith-based organizations, with the United Nations, have urged expansion of access to anti-retroviral treatment for persons living with HIV and AIDS in a consultation organized by the UNAIDS and Caritas Internationalis, from 25 to 26 February in Rome, Italy.

Representatives of faith-based organizations at the International Conference on AIDS and STI’s in Africa (ICASA) have called for the recognition of a clear link between sexual and gender-based violence and the continued spread of HIV and AIDS. Together they affirmed their significant role in the post-2015 agenda to turn the tide of HIV and related inequities.

Sie haben es in der Hand: Mit diesen Worten hat sich Michel Sidibé, Direktor von UNAIDS, an die Teilnehmer der 10. Vollversammlung des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen gewandt. Frieden und Gerechtigkeit könne nur mit Hilfe der Kirchen erreicht werden.