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African churches adopt 10-point plan for HIV/AIDS

12/1/2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York

By Carol Fouke*

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (UMNS) - Christian leaders from around Africa have pledged to support a 10-point covenant for fighting HIV/AIDS that emphasizes prevention and the provision of affordable drugs for all who need them.

As World AIDS Day - Dec. 1 - approached, church leaders from across the continent prayed, sang and spoke out boldly as they made a commitment to defeat HIV/AIDS. During a Nov. 26 all-day focus on the pandemic, delegates to the All Africa Conference of Churches Eighth Assembly reviewed the dire facts and figures, heard testimonies from HIV-positive clergy and laity and adopted the 10-point covenant.

To dramatize the importance of HIV screening, the assembly offered free, voluntary on-site testing. According to clinic staff, 105 of the assembly's 800-plus participants were tested and, when supplies ran out, others were given vouchers for testing the next day.

"As far as we are concerned, this is war," said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, a Methodist pastor who serves as chief executive for the All Africa Conference of Churches. "We declare unequivocally that HIV/AIDS is not the will of God for Africa. We will try with all we have to resist it."

At a candlelight vigil and service, Dandala had strong words for international pharmaceutical companies and countries in the northern hemisphere that are falling short in their support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"The church must resist any tendency by the pharmaceutical companies to see Africa as an open market for HIV/AIDS drugs because of the virus' prevalence on the continent," he said. Such an attitude would be a sign of moral bankruptcy, he added.

During the candlelight vigil, three phalanxes of about 1,000 people each walked from three downtown Yaounde intersections to the headquarters of the Federation of Protestant Churches and Missions in Cameroon, the nation's ecumenical council. Assembly delegates went by bus from their meeting site.

Addresses included words from Cameroon's health minister, Urbain Olanguena Owono, who praised the comprehensive commitment of the churches to fighting HIV/AIDS, to working against stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS, and to extending care and compassion to those affected by HIV/AIDS.

"HIV/AIDS is the most awful and insidious destroyer of African life," he said. "If we don't stop this insidious terrorist, all our development efforts may be in vain."

Delegates stood to adopt a 10-point covenant for the council, which Dandala described as "a guiding document for all our churches as well as a position paper that is going to give guidance to the kind of response the church has to give to the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

Dandala called for more research dollars for Africa's scientists seeking treatments and a cure, and for strengthening of Africa's health services, 40 percent of which are in the hands of the church.

In the 10-point covenant, delegates pledged to:

Â· Undertake HIV prevention for all people - Christian and non-Christian, married and single, young and old, women and men, poor and rich, black, white, yellow.

Â· Do all that is necessary to encourage both men and women to love, care, support and heal all those infected and affected in communities throughout the continent.

Â· Undertake prophetic advocacy until anti-retroviral drugs are available to all who need them.

Â· Practice zero tolerance for stigmatizing and discriminating against HIV-positive people, and do whatever possible to eliminate the isolation, rejection, fear and oppression of the infected and affected in the community.

Â· Work to empower the poor and denounce all laws and policies that have condemned billions to poverty, denying them quality care and treatment.

Â· Denounce gender inequalities that lead men and boys to risky sexual behavior, domination and violence, and that deny girls and women decision-making powers in sexual matters, deprive them of property rights and expose them to violence.

Â· Empower and protect all children, denouncing laws and policies that expose them to sexual abuse and exploitation.

Â· Become a community of compassion and healing, providing a place for all people living with AIDS to live openly and productively.

Â· Test for infection, abstain from sex before marriage, be faithful in marriage and practice protected sex.

Â· "Declare jubilee and proclaim liberty, for until justice is served to all people, until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, HIV/AIDS cannot be uprooted."

The All Africa Conference of Churches has 169 national member denominations and 27 national ecumenical councils, comprising 120 million Christians in 39 countries. The United Methodist Church is active throughout Africa and supports many ministries that are addressing the AIDS crisis.
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*Fouke is a communications staff member of the U.S. National Council of Churches. Dave Wanless also contributed to this story.

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