Is Debt Relief the Cure for AIDS?

By Jerad Morey

The World Bank/IMF meeting April 15-17 should be treated by Christians as an international weekend of prayer. At this meeting the powerful financial institutions will consider the February 5th meeting of G-7 nations, wherein the world's most powerful countries agreed in principle to provide as much as 100 percent debt relief to impoverished nations.

Christians should pray and act in support of debt relief, not only because of the deleterious long-term effects of high indebtedness on economic development and security, but also the specific effects it has on an urgent contemporary crisis — the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Liberating poor nations from slavery to both debt and disease fits everything we know of the Gospel.

The connection between debt relief and the struggle against global AIDS has been largely ignored by American Christians.

This is due to bad theology, a theology that stigmatizes AIDS as a product of sin from a continent of pagans, and that uses popular aphorisms such as "God helps those who help themselves" as faux-Scriptural loopholes to ignore Christ's repeated intercessions with the poor. Churches desperately need the facts.

HIV/AIDS, Economics, and Security

The scourge of HIV is advancing so quickly that it is seriously threatening the stability of effected states, especially in Africa, due to its ravaging effects on populations.

The African continent accounts for 70 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases in the world, although it represents only 10 percent of the global population.

These disproportionate numbers indicate how one region is bearing the brunt of a global plague. The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) predicts that "on its current trajectory, by 2010 the disease will decrease life expectancy on the continent [of Africa] to levels found at the beginning of the last century."

The pandemic's effects have been even worse than predictions from a few years ago. Two years after the USIP report (which declared that "these most recent data far surpass the most pessimistic predictions about the effects of the disease in Africa made just five years ago"), the Heritage Foundation released a backgrounder stating that in Sub-Saharan Africa, "average life expectancy is only 48 years.

In addition, an estimated 30 million Africans are infected with HIV/AIDS."

By 2010, the CIA predicts that as many as 100 million people will be infected-a staggering number.

The projected trend leaves us with 40 million AIDS orphans in southern Africa by that same year — almost three times as many children as all the high school students in the United States.

Furthermore, as the USIP notes, the disease "strikes at the most productive members of society…. teachers and other wage earners that are critical to the development of the African states and the stability of the African family."

Nor is the civilian economy the only affected sector. In South Africa, 40 percent of the military is HIV-positive.

In Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that number jumps to 60 percent.

This poses a dual threat, as soldiers tend to be both very mobile populations capable of spreading the disease to new areas and also necessary for the state to maintain its monopoly on violence.

HIV is connected to state failure. President Bill Clinton observed that it "can ruin economies and threaten the very survival of societies."

The CIA published a report testifying that "new and re-emerging infectious diseases will pose a rising global health threat and will complicate U.S. and global security over the next 20 years."

Sub-Saharan African countries devastated by AIDS have suffered net losses in their Gross Domestic Product and, as the USIP report succinctly states, AIDS causes a "spiral of destabilization":

Families become impoverished as breadwinners sicken and die. With the spread of disease and death, social bonds within and between families are weakened.

The disease leaves in its wake an explosion of the orphan population. This and the shortage of teachers due to AIDS contribute to the disruption of education patterns and increase the likelihood that children will leave school early.

Erosion of all the elements of civil society is inevitable in the face of the epidemic, weakening one of the main brakes on governmental excesses in Africa.

With the loss of population, the economy languishes and growth becomes impossible. Finally, power struggles over the state's limited resources increase the likelihood of violent conflict.

States weakened by the AIDS scourge are not just potential breeding grounds for internal conflict — they are also at risk of becoming what the Heritage Foundation dubs "slacker states," or "nations with lax laws or poor law enforcement, which unintentionally allow transnational terrorist groups to operate within their borders or permit state or non-state groups to obtain weapons or support illicitly from the private sector."

Obviously, a state that has lost its monopoly on violence is in no position to police itself from terrorists — look at Iraq.

This deterioration is why former Secretary of State Colin Powell proclaimed the fight against AIDS the "most important struggle on the face of the earth."

HIV/AIDS and the Church

Churches have largely been silent in the face of this struggle. The early theological attitude largely equated AIDS with immorality.

Christian Aid, a human rights organization, has evaluated the early response and concluded: "AIDS was [seen as] a punishment from God, akin to the plagues which God inflicted on disobedient communities in Old Testament times."

This created an underclass of people in the Church, wherein there is supposedly neither Jew nor Greek and "all are one in Christ Jesus."

Stigmatization prevented people from being tested and hindered education and prevention efforts.

When Jesus and the disciples met a blind man on the road, the disciples attempted to stigmatize his blindness, assuming it to be the result of sin.

"Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus changed the old paradigm by answering "neither" before restoring the man's sight. Job's sufferings in the Hebrew Bible were not caused by unrighteousness.

Certainly there are immoral behaviors, such as promiscuity, that put one at risk of contracting AIDS.

However AIDS is also transmitted to faithful partners in covenanted relationships, and from mothers to children through the process of childbirth.

The Church must look with a forgiving eye and realize what it means to be the body of Christ — "If one member suffers, all suffer together with it." The Church has AIDS.

HIV/AIDS and Debt Relief

What does any of this have to do with the April 15-17 meeting of the World Bank/IMF? There is a connection between AIDS, poverty, and debt.

At the International AIDS conference in Durban in 2000, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki famously attributed AIDS not to HIV but to poverty. His argument was mistaken by many in the West as ignorance of basic medical facts.

In reality, Mbeki was pointing to a more systemic cause of the pandemic's spread.

Both Louis Pasteur, who created vaccination, and Jonathan Mann, who founded the World Health Organization's Global Program on AIDS, noted that the social environment plays a significant role in the spread of disease.

The environment in which any infection is transmitted is bound to be strongly influenced by crucial societal factors such as the levels of poverty, sanitation, malnutrition, environmental degradation, and access to preventive and curative case-to mention but a few In other words, pre-existing socio-environmental conditions play a key role in people's susceptibility to disease.

Certainly there are behavioral factors that contribute to the spread of AIDS — that is not in dispute. However, HIV-positive people who live in poverty are unable to withstand opportunistic infections.

People living in poverty are often illiterate and have little access to educational resources. In other words, AIDS is not spreading in Africa because there is something about African cultures or genetics that make Africans less able to control their sex drives.

It is spreading because the conditions of poverty have always encouraged the spread of disease, and much of the African continent is very poor.

"Today Africans account for one out of every four poor persons in the world — with four out of every ten Africans living in conditions of absolute poverty."

It follows that in order to do justice in the struggle against AIDS, churches must stand against poverty. This is in keeping with God's will; never in the Bible are God's children given permission to be complacent about poverty.

In Deuteronomy 15 we are told that there will never even be poor among us if we fully obey God's commands. The fact that some are poor is proof of our fallen state.

Though we are fallen, we are not allowed to give up: God still tells us to give generously and be openhanded toward our brothers and sisters.

In Christ, God gives us a model life of generosity and relationship with the poor. Often misconstrued are Christ's words to Judas: "The poor you will always have with you."

Jesus was not making a statement of fatalistic apathy, but quoting God's condemnation from Deuteronomy that allowing our brothers and sisters in Christ to be poor is a key indicator of our disobedience to the Father.

In Luke Jesus begins his public ministry by quoting from Isaiah 61 that he has come to "preach good news to the poor."

This good news should come from today's body of Christ in two words: debt relief. Consider Zambia, which currently pays 30 percent more in debt repayments than on health.

And Zambia's is not the only similarly burdened budget. Debt relief will enable AIDS-afflicted nations to more completely address the crisis within their borders by spending more on prevention/education and treatment.

Behavior modification strategies are marginally successful and are only part of a comprehensive strategy — a strategy that must have aggressive debt relief as a central pillar.

Church lashes out at Govt

By Henry Neondo

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) last week expressed deep concern with the recent events in Ethiopia and lashed out Ethiopia government for its highhandedness in dealing with dissenting voices.

According to a statement issued from Geneva and Nairobi attributed to Rev Samuel Kobia, head of WCC and Dr Mvume Dandala, head of the AACC, the two church leaders said that it was disheartening to see Ethiopian government go over the board against a peaceful student demonstrators.

Over twenty people have lost their lives and several hundreds were injured, as a result of action of the security forces against the demonstrations.

The demonstrations were staged to protest against alleged voting irregularities in the parliamentary elections of May 15.

According to Ethiopia's press reports, the security forces not only blocked the demonstrations, but also intimidated and beat up the people including opposition candidates.

The protest demonstrations are now in their third day, and emotions and tensions are running high.

The two church leaders said that it is imperative that the authorities in Ethiopia exercise utmost care and understanding in handling the present crisis so that the situation is not allowed to further deteriorate.

The WCC and AACC call on the government of Ethiopia to ensure that the security forces exercise maximum restraint in handling the protesters and refrain from using excessive force.

"We have received reports of large numbers of arrests made by the security forces without due process. Consequently, we request that those held in detention should be properly treated and not held incommunicado, tortured and/or beaten", they said.

They further appealed to the government of Ethiopia to enter into a dialogue with the opposition political parties and civil society groups in order to find an amicable settlement of the present crisis.

They also called on the churches of Ethiopia to play their prophetic and pastoral role in helping to bring the situation to normalcy, and assure them of our readiness to support their efforts towards bringing peace, justice and reconciliation.

Catholic Church raises funds towards center

By BOPA

American Ambassador to Botswana, Joseph Huggins has likened young peoples minds to fertile soil which if you plant positive reinforcing thoughts, you will reap positive results as well.

Huggins was speaking after a 20km sponsored walk organised by Sedibeng Catholic Mission in Molepolole raised P20 468.25 at the weekend.

He said the funds would be used to construct a multi-purpose centre for the development of youth and the disadvantaged in the Kweneng District.

The intention is to provide a centre where the youth could train themselves in different skills, and get together for exchange of ideas through workshops and seminars, he said.

Huggins commended the congregation of Sedibeng Catholic Mission for taking the initiative in addressing an issue whose positive outcome will prove beneficial to the people in Molepolole and could serve as a shining example for other communities in Botswana.

He said they have power to develop youth to the best of their ability and power to shape and guide them and establish positive role models for them to follow.

For his part, Sedibeng parish priest Michael Ogweno stated that the Catholic Church has always been interested and instrumental in the holistic development of people from all walks of life, especially of the youth and the disadvantaged.

Ogweno said their church is interested not only in the spiritual but also in the physical development and advancement of all.

He said they are concerned about the education, training and proper up bringing of youth and disadvantaged in the community.

He stated that they have a feeding programme for orphans, adding that a programme for those who are HIVpositive to come together for some activities and counselling, will soon start.

Catholics offer helping hand

By BOPA

The Roman Catholic Church in Francistown has offered to assist refugees at Dukwi refugee camp to access anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.

The refugees have been excluded from the government- funded ARV programme because it is exclusively for locals.

The ARV programme is meant for Batswana only.

Since the camp houses foreigners, its residents have been excluded from the programme, the under Secretary for Political Affairs in the Office of the President, Ross Sanoto, told BOPA.

Sanoto appreciated the gesture by the church, but added that sustaining the programme would be a challenge to the church.

Bishop of the Francistown Catholic Church, Frank Nubuasah told BOPA in an interview that his church was preparing to start paying for the treatment of refugees who are ready to take the drugs.

According to the bishop, consultations with other stakeholders on the issue were at an advanced stage.

The bishop added that the programme, dubbed: Outreach of the Catholic Church already has enrolled 21 foreigners on the AIDS drugs programme.

Those enrolled are from, among other countries, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. The drugs are administered with the assistance of local private medical practitioners, he said.

Outreach of the Catholic Church was initiated by the church in 2004 to help those in need of the life-prolonging drugs but are not covered by government because they are foreigners, Bishop Nubuasah said.

The bishop said his church would work along side the UNHCR to ensure that the refugees continued accessing the drugs even when they would have returned to their countries.

For his part, UNHCR chief of mission Benny Otim described the churchs initiative as a welcome development, adding that the programme would help the refugees while his organisation was still negotiating with the government on how they could assist refugees living with HIV/AIDS.

The government has excluded the refugees from the ARV treatment programme because of the costs involved but UNHCR is still negotiating on how the refugees can be assisted, he said.

Otim said that denying the refugees access to ARV treatment was a setback to the governments fight against the scourge.

The refugees continue to interact with the local community and if they do not get help, the fight against HI/AIDS might be defeated, he said.

The Dukwi refugee camp is home to over 3000 refugees. More than half of them are from neighbouring Namibia and Angola, while others are from, among other countries, Burundi and Somalia.