Inter-religious HIV networks reflect on changing hearts and minds
-22/08/06
Discussion
Inter-religious HIV networks reflect on changing hearts and minds
-22/08/06
Discussion during the 16th International AIDS Conference (IAC), held from 13-18 August 2006 in Toronto, Canada, focused on prevention strategies, especially for women, universal access to treatment, and new leadership in galvanizing responses to the pandemic, as well as the fight against stigmatization.
The faith-based and inter-religious community was well represented among the 24,000 participants and has been reflecting actively on the experience. There were ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences, and now religious leaders are looking to the next stage of the struggle against the pandemic.
“The conference has given a lot of opportunity to people to share their practices and raise awareness to the general public once again, about HIV and AIDS,” said Karen Platter, chairperson of the Christian Host Committee for the conference. “In that sense, the conference has been successful. It re-energizes people who are working on HIV and AIDS to go back and continue the fight.”
Bishop Johannes Ramashapa from the Botswana Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa noted that “the conference has managed to bring in more people living with HIV, [and] served as a platform for them. That was a big achievement.”
He continued, “The conference has brought more hope: the research looks promising, even though we are still far from developing a vaccine against HIV. Going back to my ministry, I will scale up the fight against stigma, especially among pastors.”
In order to prepare their participation in the IAC, representatives of faith-based organizations had met prior to the conference in ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences, during which they had affirmed their commitment and called for concrete action.
The Rev Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was candid throughout the conference, say observers.
He declared during one of the panel discussions: “As a global religious leader of 66 million Lutherans in the world and the religious leader of 5 million Lutheran Christians in the United States, I publicly promise to stand in solidarity with you and let the commitments made here, and articulated here, shape my leadership and my rhetoric.”
“When it comes to a time to deliver for religious communities, I believe that there are at least four dimensions to what this delivery looks like for us in religious leadership. It means, first of all, that we confess our complicity; secondly, it means that we claim our capacity; third, it means that we name our responsibility; and fourth is that we submit to public accountability and transparency,” the LWF president told journalists at a press conference.
The LWF was represented by a 21-member delegation of AIDS coordinators from its member churches and Department for World Service field programs. The group’s coordinator, Dr Sheila Shyamprasad, the HIV and AIDS consultant to the LWF Department for Mission and Development said the team members had benefitted from the information sharing and networking at the conference.
While the participation of faith-based groups in the IACs “has developed immensely,” she noted, they still need to enhance their visibility at such conferences “considering what we do in the field.”
The absence of political leaders at this major event did not go unnoticed. “Government representatives were missing at the conference, yet in the end they are the policymakers,” said Betty Makoni, director and founder of ëGirl Child Network,í a grassroots organization in Zimbabwe, which counsels and supports girls in rural areas, including victims of sexual abuse.
The network received the IAC’s inaugural “Red Ribbon Award,” for best practice in overcoming women’s inequality. The award, which will be presented every two years, is designed to honor and celebrate outstanding community leadership and action that has helped curtail the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.
Makoni expressed concern that the conference had not focused enough on the urgency for universal treatment access. “There are a lot of people on the ground still waiting for treatment. The number of lives lost is worrying. The urgent need [to make] drugs available as soon as possible did not really come out at this conference,” she said.
For the next IAC, to be held in August 2008 in Mexico City, Mexico, there was a wish for more Latin American presence and increased faith-based involvement.
Richard Fee, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Canada said, “I would urge especially the faith-based organizations in Mexico to be much more inclusive. I have felt that there are gaps in the representations from other faith-based organizations. I hope that could be expanded.”
Platter emphasized the need for faith-based communities to become more integrated in different areas like the women’s, children, and youth networking zones, and in the main conference itself. “I would like to see us joining hands with people who are in the fight against AIDS, and setting aside our differences, whether they may be in theology or morality, and looking at whatís best,” she said.
Linda Hartke, coordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), concluded, “If we take anything away from this conference, it’s that we need to work together. We need to find ways to strengthen our collaboration , and that includes with faith communities.”
With grateful acknowledgments to Lutheran World Information correspondent Julia Heyde. Additional reporting from the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance media team in Toronto, Canada.
[Also on Ekklesia: Cash, cooperation and clarity needed in AIDS fight 22/08/06; Christian groups say abstinence-based HIV strategies are harmful 21/08/06; Religious leaders issue global challenge to HIV-AIDS stigma 20/08/06; Zimbabwean HIV+ woman helps young people Choose Life 18/08/06; Faith-based HIV work doing more harm than good, says African church leader 16/08/06; Christian Aid offers fresh approach to HIV at global AIDS gathering 14/08/06; ëLife Interruptedí: a series of photographs for Christian Aid by the award-winning photojournalist, Don McCullin; United Church of Canada issues bold action call on HIV-AIDS 11/08/06; Faith groups mobilize for global push against AIDS and HIV 08/08/06; Churches sign AIDS code; Flower power deals a fresh blow to HIV-AIDS; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; HIV+ African priest looks to AIDS-free world by 2025; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Christian-owned company produces cheap AIDS drugs; US church leader urges action not obstruction on AIDS; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists; Religious right thwarted AIDS meeting, say NGOs]
Inter-religious HIV networks reflect on changing hearts and minds
-22/08/06
Discussion during the 16th International AIDS Conference (IAC), held from 13-18 August 2006 in Toronto, Canada, focused on prevention strategies, especially for women, universal access to treatment, and new leadership in galvanizing responses to the pandemic, as well as the fight against stigmatization.
The faith-based and inter-religious community was well represented among the 24,000 participants and has been reflecting actively on the experience. There were ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences, and now religious leaders are looking to the next stage of the struggle against the pandemic.
“The conference has given a lot of opportunity to people to share their practices and raise awareness to the general public once again, about HIV and AIDS,” said Karen Platter, chairperson of the Christian Host Committee for the conference. “In that sense, the conference has been successful. It re-energizes people who are working on HIV and AIDS to go back and continue the fight.”
Bishop Johannes Ramashapa from the Botswana Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa noted that “the conference has managed to bring in more people living with HIV, [and] served as a platform for them. That was a big achievement.”
He continued, “The conference has brought more hope: the research looks promising, even though we are still far from developing a vaccine against HIV. Going back to my ministry, I will scale up the fight against stigma, especially among pastors.”
In order to prepare their participation in the IAC, representatives of faith-based organizations had met prior to the conference in ecumenical and interfaith pre-conferences, during which they had affirmed their commitment and called for concrete action.
The Rev Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was candid throughout the conference, say observers.
He declared during one of the panel discussions: “As a global religious leader of 66 million Lutherans in the world and the religious leader of 5 million Lutheran Christians in the United States, I publicly promise to stand in solidarity with you and let the commitments made here, and articulated here, shape my leadership and my rhetoric.”
“When it comes to a time to deliver for religious communities, I believe that there are at least four dimensions to what this delivery looks like for us in religious leadership. It means, first of all, that we confess our complicity; secondly, it means that we claim our capacity; third, it means that we name our responsibility; and fourth is that we submit to public accountability and transparency,” the LWF president told journalists at a press conference.
The LWF was represented by a 21-member delegation of AIDS coordinators from its member churches and Department for World Service field programs. The group’s coordinator, Dr Sheila Shyamprasad, the HIV and AIDS consultant to the LWF Department for Mission and Development said the team members had benefitted from the information sharing and networking at the conference.
While the participation of faith-based groups in the IACs “has developed immensely,” she noted, they still need to enhance their visibility at such conferences “considering what we do in the field.”
The absence of political leaders at this major event did not go unnoticed. “Government representatives were missing at the conference, yet in the end they are the policymakers,” said Betty Makoni, director and founder of ëGirl Child Network,í a grassroots organization in Zimbabwe, which counsels and supports girls in rural areas, including victims of sexual abuse.
The network received the IAC’s inaugural “Red Ribbon Award,” for best practice in overcoming women’s inequality. The award, which will be presented every two years, is designed to honor and celebrate outstanding community leadership and action that has helped curtail the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.
Makoni expressed concern that the conference had not focused enough on the urgency for universal treatment access. “There are a lot of people on the ground still waiting for treatment. The number of lives lost is worrying. The urgent need [to make] drugs available as soon as possible did not really come out at this conference,” she said.
For the next IAC, to be held in August 2008 in Mexico City, Mexico, there was a wish for more Latin American presence and increased faith-based involvement.
Richard Fee, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Canada said, “I would urge especially the faith-based organizations in Mexico to be much more inclusive. I have felt that there are gaps in the representations from other faith-based organizations. I hope that could be expanded.”
Platter emphasized the need for faith-based communities to become more integrated in different areas like the women’s, children, and youth networking zones, and in the main conference itself. “I would like to see us joining hands with people who are in the fight against AIDS, and setting aside our differences, whether they may be in theology or morality, and looking at whatís best,” she said.
Linda Hartke, coordinator of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), concluded, “If we take anything away from this conference, it’s that we need to work together. We need to find ways to strengthen our collaboration , and that includes with faith communities.”
With grateful acknowledgments to Lutheran World Information correspondent Julia Heyde. Additional reporting from the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance media team in Toronto, Canada.
[Also on Ekklesia: Cash, cooperation and clarity needed in AIDS fight 22/08/06; Christian groups say abstinence-based HIV strategies are harmful 21/08/06; Religious leaders issue global challenge to HIV-AIDS stigma 20/08/06; Zimbabwean HIV+ woman helps young people Choose Life 18/08/06; Faith-based HIV work doing more harm than good, says African church leader 16/08/06; Christian Aid offers fresh approach to HIV at global AIDS gathering 14/08/06; ëLife Interruptedí: a series of photographs for Christian Aid by the award-winning photojournalist, Don McCullin; United Church of Canada issues bold action call on HIV-AIDS 11/08/06; Faith groups mobilize for global push against AIDS and HIV 08/08/06; Churches sign AIDS code; Flower power deals a fresh blow to HIV-AIDS; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; HIV+ African priest looks to AIDS-free world by 2025; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Christian-owned company produces cheap AIDS drugs; US church leader urges action not obstruction on AIDS; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists; Religious right thwarted AIDS meeting, say NGOs]