For World AIDS Day, Anglican leaders call for continued efforts in fighting HIV pandemic
Episcopal News Service. November 30, 2007 [113007-02]
Matthew Davies
In observance of World AIDS Day on December 1, several Anglican leaders have issued statements calling for continued efforts in addressing the global HIV/AIDS pandemic despite recent UNAIDS and World Health Organization (WHO) statistics that indicate a significant decline in the number of people infected with the virus.
"This is not the time for complacency nor apathy," said Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Southern African and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in a November 30 statement released by the World Aids Campaign. "It is the time for compassionate leadership that recognizes that the voiceless are often those who suffer most."
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori sent a letter to the congregations of the Episcopal Church in a bulletin insert intended for distribution during December 2 Sunday services.
"As we enter the second quarter-century of this disease, I am mindful of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go," she said. "I continue to be inspired by the ingenuity of the human spirit as people around the world work to develop effective prevention programs and new treatments for HIV and AIDS."
The recent UNAIDS and WHO statistics estimate that the number of people living with HIV has fallen from nearly 40 million to 33.2 million.
However, Tutu said that 70 percent of infected people don't have access to life-saving therapies. "Many still face stigma, economic deprivation and rejection because of their infection," he said. "Many still don't have access to basic information or simple interventions that will reduce risk."
Jefferts Schori applauded the work of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC) which, since 1988, has "served as a witness to these gains. Through their ongoing work, our church is better equipped to bring God's healing embrace to many who suffer from this disease."
She noted, however, that such gains "do not negate the fact that HIV/AIDS continues to spread in distressing ways both within the United States and abroad. The statistics tell what has become an all too familiar story -- namely, that HIV/AIDS devastates society's most marginalized communities."
At its 75th General Convention in June 2006, the Episcopal Church adopted as its top mission priority the work of peace and justice ministries framed by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The sixth goal commits to halting and beginning to reverse the spread of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The convention also passed resolutions that support the elimination of stigma (Resolution A132), authorize a media campaign to raise awareness of the pandemic (Resolution A133), and call for a training curriculum to be developed in time for the 76th General Convention (Resolution A134).
The Episcopal Church has advocated for people living with HIV/AIDS and for their caregivers since its General Convention in 1985 when it was a leader among the mainline churches in addressing the pandemic.
"Among people who are HIV positive, the groups showing the fastest and highest increases within the United States are youth, women, and people of color," said Jefferts Schori in her World AIDS Day message. "We must attend to, and work to change, the ways in which social stigmatization, particularly racism and gender discrimination, serve to exacerbate the spread of this disease."
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) runs comprehensive international HIV/AIDS care programs that provide prevention education, care for people suffering from the disease, and support for children left behind. ERD's programs are currently assisting communities hardest hit by the disease in countries such as Brazil, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Kenya, Namibia, Peru, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zambia.
ERD also helps to provide micro-enterprise opportunities for people living with HIV/AIDS. ERD was recently awarded a grant from the MAC AIDS Fund to launch the program, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), a partnership between ERD and the Zambian Anglican Council (ZAC).
Keep the promise, take the lead
The Primate of the Indian Ocean and chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) has acknowledged good progress on educational and pastoral concerns in the fight against HIV and AIDS but warns that the battle is far from complete.
"As we approach World AIDS Day 2007 with its theme 'Keep the Promise Take the Lead,' we would like to encourage all governments, donors, and those responsible to the implement policies, ensure that resources are channeled to areas they are most needed, and are used in the most effective ways," said the Most Rev. Ian Ernest, urging faith communities and their partners to continue speaking out "against any form of discrimination and stigmatization, and improve ways of addressing issues around behavioral change and morality."
"We can never educate enough on this issue," he added, "and we should therefore continue to ensure that factual information is assimilated to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS in our communities."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, said November 28 that churches need to be brave, imaginative and honest in the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS.
In his message for World AIDS Day -- issued for the first time as a video available online -- Williams said churches are actively engaged in the global response to HIV and described as "a scandal" the limited access to drugs and treatment in deprived parts of the world.
"It is important that we do not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by this challenge; people do not have to die -- drugs and treatment are available -- the scandal is that access is so often limited and it is hard to see where justice lies in the way resources are sometimes distributed."
Hong Kong and Asian church communities are also calling on Christians to show leadership in the campaign against HIV and AIDS.
"The Anglican Communion is committed to the leadership in putting HIV/AIDS to an end," said Anglican Archbishop Paul Kwong of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui in a November letter. "Leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of AIDS, in families, in churches, in communities, in countries and internationally."
Kwong said he recently donated 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$64,000) to the Beijing government toward its education and prevention programs for HIV and AIDS.
The Hong Kong Anglican church has also released a eucharistic liturgy to mark World AIDS Day, asking its parishes and schools to organize events, and educate young people about the issue.
"During the past year there have been some encouraging advances in the global response to HIV and AIDS," the HIV education center of St. John's Anglican Cathedral in Hong Kong said, "though we continue to fall far short in the resources and efforts needed to stop the spread of the disease."
"All of us are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps in bringing God's hope and healing to those who live with this disease," said Jefferts Schori, expressing her gratitude for NEAC commitment to challenging the stigma associated with the disease. "NEAC's work, along with that of so many others, makes manifest the gift of God's persistent love. It is as bearers of this love that we are called to bring 'the oil of gladness instead of mourning.'"