African churches not ‘winning the war’ on AIDS, leaders told

by Fredrick Nzwili
Ecumenical News International

NAIROBI — Leaders of churches in sub‑Saharan Africa, the region of the world worst‑affected by the AIDS epidemic, say they appear to be failing in their endeavors to get across the message about the disease to their people.

      “We don’t seem to be winning the war,” said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches in Nairobi.

      UNAIDS, the United Nations’ program on HIV/AIDS, estimates that while sub‑Saharan Africa has just over 10 per cent of the world’s population, it is home to two‑thirds of all people living with HIV.

      Ignorance in this region of Africa about the disease was contributing to its spread, Dandala told African church leaders gathered in the Kenyan capital from Jan. 17-19. He noted that some churches were preaching AIDS did not exist, and others were saying that those diagnosed with it could be healed by prayers.

       “Such people are disempowering our people, who should know AIDS is real, is hurting us and has therefore to be fought and defeated,” said Dandala. “We have to mobilize the African church into the realization that the disease has a capacity to annihilate all of us.”

      The church leaders noted that key government programs aimed at rolling back the pandemic were now using churches as channels for treatment and care, but they expressed anxiety about the future of the programs, which are mainly donor funded.

      “We should wake‑up or we are gone,” the Rev. Malebogo Mothibi of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa told Ecumenical News International. “We should think of alternatives in case the funds dry up.”

      UNAIDS said estimates showed a steady increase in recent years in the number of people living with HIV in sub‑Saharan Africa, even though the prevalence was roughly stable.

      Still, the agency noted, stabilization did not necessarily mean the epidemic was slowing, as the number of AIDS deaths has also been increasing.