June 18, 2003
by Pat Cole
Communications Officer
Worldwide Ministries Division

LOUISVILLE - African churches are beginning to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic raging on their continent and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is helping those efforts.

"We were seeing that AIDS was left as a program of the health department," said Caryl Weinberg, a PC(USA) regional AIDS consultant for western and central Africa. "But it is the churches that are out in the communities. It is they who will help see changes in behavior and who are taking care of people with AIDS and the orphans (whose parents die from AIDS)."

PC(USA) partner churches in Africa invited the denomination to help churches with AIDS prevention. Weinberg and another mission worker, the Rev. Janet Guyer, work exclusively on the AIDS crisis in Africa.

They have found the church leaders eager to tackle the challenge.

"The HIV problem has really affected the church and the nation as a whole," said the Rev. Fletcher Matandika, a Presbyterian pastor in Malawi. "And I would personally feel that the church is in a position, probably the best position, to address this issue by ministering to the special needs of these people, but also physically reaching out to them with love and care and helping the children, whose parents die as result of AIDS."

Guyer consults with churches in southern and eastern Africa, focusing first on Malawi and Ethiopia. Weinberg is directing her initial efforts toward Cameroon and Congo.

"I think the churches are in a position to make a huge difference because in some places they are one of the few networks that are respected by the people throughout the country," Guyer said. "They have a history with the community not like some (non-governmental organizations) that might come and go."

Both Guyer and Weinberg say the churches take the lead role in planning programs related to AIDS. Generally, they have found churches want education about AIDS prevention and training related to taking care of people with AIDS.

In certain pockets of sub-Saharan Africa, up to 25 percent of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS. "Some nations will be wiped out if the current rate of infection continues," said Dorothy Hanson, AIDS project manager for the PC(USA)'s International Health Ministries office. "They won't be there in another 20 years."

Hanson educates congregations in the United States about the AIDS crisis in Africa and enables their efforts to assist partner churches on the continent.

The media and political leaders around the world have been calling attention to the crisis. Yet much of the AIDS discussion has been focused on funding anti-retroviral drugs, said Dorothy Brewster-Lee, coordinator of International Health Ministries for the PC(USA). "We support treatment but we are just not putting our money there," she says.

The PC(USA)'s resources are better spent on advocating behavior changes that will keep the disease from spreading, she said. AIDS is transmitted mainly through heterosexual sex in Africa.

Brewster-Lee also named home-care programs, mother-to-child transmission prevention and orphan care as projects that merit strong support from the PC(USA).

One African nation, Uganda, has cut its rate of AIDS infection from 20 percent to 5 percent of the population through a massive education campaign led by the nation's president. Eventually numerous Ugandan institutions, including churches, began emphasizing the ABC's of prevention: Abstinence, Being Faithful and Condoms.

The Ugandan experience gives African church leaders hope that prevention measures can stop the spread of AIDS. Yet the Ugandan formula forces churches to talk about sexuality in public, a taboo in much of Africa.

"They're having to talk about something they have never talked about before, an STD (sexually-transmitted disease)," Guyer said. "The church has been involved in other health campaigns before, but for the congregations to have to deal with an STD is a challenge."

Weinberg said the churches she works with focus on preaching abstinence and fidelity. "The churches I work with don't condemn condoms, but they don't advocate them," she said. "They just say (condom use) is an option."

The majority of AIDS patients in sub-Saharan Africa, 58 percent, are women. The traditional subservient role of women in African culture makes them particularly vulnerable. Many women feel they are obligated to have unprotected sex with their husband or boyfriend, even if they know their partner has the AIDS virus, Brewster-Lee said.

In Uganda, where the AIDS rate has been dramatically reduced, surveys show that the status of women is much higher than in neighboring nations, according to Brewster-Lee.

Weinberg said she is encouraged that some churches are working to change traditional attitudes toward women. "The churches I'm working with are trying to lift women up and are trying to put women's issues at the forefront of the discussion about AIDS," she said.

In U.S. churches, Hanson is trying to stir some discussion about poverty in Africa and its role in the AIDS crisis. She said that rampant poverty takes away hope and that despairing people are not motivated to make healthy lifestyle choices.

"I tell people if they are active in hunger and disaster relief they are also helping prevent AIDS in Africa," Hanson said.

How Presbyterians can help African churches fight the AIDS epidemic

Presbyterian AIDS workers say there are a number of ways Presbyterians can help fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa:

. Learn More. A wealth of statistics and stories about AIDS in Africa and the PC(USA)'s response to it can be found at www.pcusa.org/health/international/aids/aids.htm. The site also contains information about various resources, including a newly produced eight-minute video "AIDS: Families in Crisis-Presbyterians Respond." Order the video by calling (800)-524-2612 and refer to PDS#74-330-03-003.

. Send Supplies. Congregations across the country are assembling AIDS Home-Based Care Kits to help Africans care for relatives with the disease. For more information, visit the Web site.

. Spread the Word. Speak to congregations about AIDS in Africa and how the PC(USA) and its partners are responding to it. Help congregations draw the connection between poverty and disease.

. Give money. A variety of opportunities to support AIDS prevention efforts in Africa and to address problems created by the epidemic are posted on the Web site.

. Pray. Seek God's direction and strength to make a personal commitment to respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa and pray for someone living with AIDS.

Presbyterian News Service