September 29, 2004
News Feature

GENEVA - "We are losing people including pastors who could have given so much to the church because of their expertise, talents and gifts; young people who could have turned Africa into what it should be."

This was how Ms Angelene Swart, president of the Moravian Church in South Africa described the impact of HIV/AIDS on her church and country. She was addressing a press briefing at the September 1-7 meeting of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council near Geneva.

Statistics from South Africa's Department of Health indicate that by 2002, an estimated 5.3 million people in a population of more than 42 million were infected with the human immuno-deficiency virus that leads to AIDS. More recent surveys reveal that one in every five young South Africans aged between 15 and 24 was infected, with women more disproportionately affected than men.

For Swart, one of the biggest challenges for church leadership is to keep hope and love alive among the hurting people. "In the southern part of Africa, we have started with compassion. The church has been converted to compassion. The silence has been broken." But it was after painstaking efforts, the Moravian church president explained. For a long time church people had been ashamed to admit that they were HIV-positive or had AIDS, and arguably so, according to Swart. "Throughout the ages the church has seen itself as holy, without blemish. But we came to realize that we must be open and confess our sins especially about the silence on this disease."

Openly Addressing Stigmatization, Discrimination and Isolation

"Of course we regret the time it took the churches to respond," she said. "If we had responded sooner we could have been proactive rather than reactive and would have saved more lives. But we have a chance now, and we grabbed it when it came along." Last year, South Africa is estimated to have lost over 360,000 people to AIDS-related illnesses.

Now the leadership, and indeed the entire church are joining ranks against the disease. Once afraid of being stigmatized and isolated, pastors are now openly confessing that they are HIV-positive, and becoming actively engaged in the church's efforts to fight the disease, she told the journalists.

In the Moravian church, "everybody" is included in an ongoing HIV/AIDS action plan that includes programs to increase awareness, organizing advocacy groups, providing home-based care for the infected, training church leaders and volunteers, and offering counseling and treatment. Stigmatization, discrimination and isolation are being addressed, Swart stressed. The Moravian church joined the LWF in 1975, and has 100,200 members.

"As a church we have no option but to help people experience the abundant life that God has promised to all people," said Swart who is also vice-president of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa. The sub-regional body comprises 13 LWF member churches in eight countries.

Central America: Correlation with Homosexuality
Increases Stigmatization of HIV-Infected Persons

Dr Alois Moeller, the El Salvador-based regional representative of the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) program in Central America pointed out that stigma and discrimination are major concerns in the fight against the pandemic as much as myths and misconceptions about human sexuality. There is a general assumption that HIV-infected persons are also homosexual. One of the main objectives of the DWS regional program is HIV/AIDS awareness raising, especially among leadership and young people, Moeller explained.

More than 2 million people are said to be living with HIV in the Latin America and Caribbean region. At least 100,000 AIDS-related deaths were reported in the past year.

Rev. Victoria Cortez Rodriguez, president of the Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope concurred with Moeller, describing the stigma around HIV/AIDS in Nicaraguan society as fierce. Because of the correlation with homosexuality, the HIV/AIDS infected, and affected, are despised in Latin American culture. "People would prefer to die at home than go to hospital, where they are treated badly," Rodriguez, who is LWF vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean region, said in a related interview.

"People will not say that they have AIDS because they fear they will be ostracized by their family and community. The church has to step in to help such persons and let them know that God loves them as much as anyone else."

Nicaragua, with an HIV prevalence of 0.2 percent and an estimated 6,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, reported around 500 AIDS-related deaths by the end of 2003.

'Head-in-the-Sand' Approach Weakens in Nicaraguan Lutheran Church

Rodriguez, who pioneered an HIV-AIDS education program within the Lutheran church said "the churches are in denial. They say that AIDS is God's judgment on sinners. They do not want to admit that AIDS is in their churches because that would mean that their people are just like the rest of society."

She stressed that it had not been easy but the "head-in-the-sand" approach was weakening in the Lutheran church of 42 parishes and a total membership of 4,000. The pastors' initial reluctance has gradually evolved into action with AIDS-awareness workshops conducted in 20 parishes so far, and another 15 planned for next year.

Swart, Moeller and Rodriguez affirmed their efforts as an important contribution to the LWF global campaign against HIV/AIDS launched in May 2002, and its action plan titled "Compassion, Conversion, Care: Responding as Churches to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic." The campaign aims at especially engaging the LWF member churches in open discussion about the disease and promoting their active participation. Advocacy against stigma and discrimination, and working with people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) are significant aspects of the campaign.

But LWF involvement in AIDS work began way back in 1988, even before the disease was declared a global pandemic, according to Dr Christine Sadia, the Federation's HIV/AIDS consultant. She is responsible for the technical screening of HIV/AIDS applications submitted to the LWF for funding. She also provides consultative services in accompanying member churches in their endeavors to implement the HIV/AIDS campaign in an ecumenical manner where possible, and building up capacity. Worldwide, the LWF is engaged with governments, bilateral partners, non-governmental and community-based organizations, including PLWHA in confronting HIV/AIDS-related issues.

Lutheran World Information
By Linda Macqueen, editor of The Lutheran, magazine of the Lutheran.