Civil society and faith groups campaigning on HIV and AIDS have urged United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to step up efforts to combat discrimination and criminalisation that prevent access to infomation and services.

The Vatican has amended comments made about condoms by the Pope, but the change in tone is unlikely to stem critics who say his anti-contraception stance is damaging the fight against HIV-AIDS.

Gideon B Byamugisha says he is humbled to have been named as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Niwano Peace Prize - the Nobel Peace Prize of faith communities.

Gideon Byamugisha, a Ugandan who became the first known African cleric to declare publicly he was HIV-positive, breaking stigma-induced silence on the illness, has been awarded the Niwano Peace Prize.

Faith leaders "should shout from the rooftops that AIDS is not a punishment from God but a medical condition which is preventable", the former leader of South Africa's Anglican church, Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, has declared.

The general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Rev Mvume Dandala, is encouraging mass voluntary testing for HIV by undergoing a personal test for the virus, and encourages other religious leaders to do the same.

While the media focus is on in-fighting over sexuality and gender, the July 2008 Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops will be challenged to look outwards at the HIV-AIDS pandemic facing millions in Africa.

An educational institution in southern Africa is hosting a major theological consultation on HIV prevention called by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), based in Geneva. Participants are expected from across the globe.

A Christian health organization in India has warned that new official statistics showing a fall in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the south Asian country should not lead to people lowering their guard.