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In a pastoral letter to the Korean Christian Federation, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed “very deep Christian concern” over the COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

As Norwegian Church Aid continued a digital visit with its global partners, leaders from the organization met with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to discuss creative responses to the world’s increasing needs, and the vital role of church leaders in those responses.

As the world grapples with the spread of the new coronavirus, churches are finding ways to continue their traditions, but now by virtual means. On the coming Sabbath, churches around the world will engage in prayer, not publicly – as the church moves out of big public buildings – but inside the private spaces of homes.

In the past several months, beginning with an epidemic that quickly became an emergency situation, COVID-19 has escalated into a global crisis, spreading fear and uncertainty everywhere.

The WCC, via a specific landing page on its website, is reaching out to the worldwide fellowship with a sense of pastoral care amid the coronavirus pandemic.

People pray daily for an end to the coronavirus-COVID-19 that is gripping the world, turning human interaction into a virtual affair and upending lives everywhere during a struggle against a silent enemy about which little is known.

The WHO Director-General has convened a Civil Society Working Group on non-communicable diseases to strengthen civil society contribution to combat NCDs. In this regard, the WHO has appointed the WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, Dr Mwai Makoka, to this working group.

Conversations at the World Council of Churches (WCC) exhibition booth at the Kirchentag showed there is a growing interest in ecumenical movement among German churches. The topics of a particularly high interest were the Thursdays in Black campaign and studies at the Ecumenical institute in Bossey.

It is confirmation season in Greenland. In churches across the country, bench rows are decorated with flowers and candles along the aisle. Joy is in the air and it is time for a vast majority of 14-year-olds to have their Christian baptism confirmed.

For HIV-infected people in Nairobi, the Eastern Deanery Aids Relief Program makes a difference. By providing a quarter of the antiretroviral therapy care, it helps around 26,000 HIV-infected people in the Kenyan capital to live normal lives.

Ten years ago, while studying to become a nurse, Khadijah Abdullah was confronted at a hospital with a rather difficult patient, a Muslim living with AIDS who was also coping with several other medical issues. When Abdullah realized how isolated and stigmatized this patient was in his own faith community, she became aware of her prejudices and ignorance and she decided to do something about it.

Ours is a world of migration. Yet myths and mystification persist in our understanding of the journey – particularly when it comes to transmittable diseases such as HIV.

Convening a range of international representatives and partners in Geneva on 24 May, the WCC reiterated its commitment to the ministry of health and healing for all people, taking new steps towards a new Global Ecumenical Health Strategy.

World Health Day, 7 April, is focusing this year on diabetes. The World Health Organization has released its first Global Report on Diabetes, which reveals that the number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million, or 8.5% of the world’s adult population.

This Christmas the St Luke Clinic in Tirana has come of age. Twenty-one years after it was founded it offers specialized medical assistance in an array of medical fields and its founding was the foundation of expanded church-run medical services in Albania.

Amidst the reality of tensions often fueled by religions, a group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community. As part of an interfaith summer course sponsored by the WCC, this community wants to work for the protection of creation – a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.

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.