Stigmatised but religious leaders now wake up to HIV and AIDS challenge

By Henry Neondo


HIV and AIDS is now 20 years but details about the stigma it has had on religious leaders across Africa are just emerging.
Since when the first ecumenical plan of action for responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in November 2001, the church's approach has been for the eradification of stigma and discrimination in the larger communities they lived in, but now, details are coming out on silent suffering among religious leaders infected with the scourge.
Participants at the forum noted that while religious leaders are expected by virtue of positions they hold in most communties expected to be counsellors among other roles, few have known what they have had to undergo themselves when they get infected by HIV and AIDS.
According to Rev Dickson Mwadime, a religious leader from Kenya's Coast Province, while it was easy for a religious leader to advice the congregation on the ABC's of HIV and AIDS, the same was not the same when the leader was to disclose that s/he was HIV positive.
He said that this emanates from the association of the HIV scourge to promiscuity and the first reaction a religious leader who declares his HIV status gets from his flock is " the pastor was not holy after all!"
The negative reaction according to Rev Mwadime did not end with the congregation alone, as the pastor risks being defroked by his superiors.
For example, Luke, not real name was a pastor in a mainstream church in a rural area of Kenya. Few people knew much about AIDS and when they were told they didnt believe.
Then in 1999, his children were 10, 7 and 4, his wife died. The death certificate said Tuberculosis, but in the hospital Luke was told that it might be AIDS and was adviced to go for testing.
"On the day I received the result, I was about to die" confesses Pastor Luke. Desperate for advice and comfort, he went and told his Bishop.
"You are a disgrace to the church" the bishop curtly told him and warned Luke not to tell anyone that he has the sickness and was asked to remarry if he were to retain his position in the ministry, so that "people will not be suspicious".
That to Warren W. Buckingham III, senior Regional HIV and AIDS advisor sums up the reaction the religious community has had on the scourge.
The relgious's leader's response to the scourge has been judgement, damnation, persecution and condemnation of the infected, especially among their leader's ladder.
While the religious response to disasters have been commendable over the years, this has not been so with the HIV and AIDS. Initially, the reaction has been that of "inaction and misaction", he said.
Archibishop Benjamin Nzimbi, the head of the Anglican of Church of Kenya and chairmna of ten east and central African nations’ religious leaders action against HIV and AIDS agrees with the sentments and called upon the religious leaders to apologise for the sins of ommission and commission.
Addressing an international forum to discuss stigma associated with HIV and AIDS in the religious sector, Rev Nzimbi apologised on behalf other religious leaders for things they ought to have done and have not and the things they have done when they should not.
He said that the religious sector took time to react and learn about the scourge and rued that although the religious sector has a lot of influence in the society, their influence on HIV and AIDS however has been minimal.
He called on religious leaders to learn on new happening on HIV and not be quick to condemn the infected and the affected.
Rev Nzimbi said an appropriate response by the religious leaders would have quickly built pressure upon the government to make accessible the ARVs, particularly at a time as this when the prices are affordable.
Religious groups, in general, have a reputation for responding to the issue of HIV in negative terms.
According to Warren, factors that influence this perception have included judgmental comment from religious leaders; debate about condoms; and an obstructive stance towards policy development, particularly regarding drug use, commercial sex, and harm reduction approaches.
The religious sector has been largely unwilling to engage in any way that could imply dilution of moral standards.
As a result, people with HIV have experienced rejection by religious people, congregations or institutions.
According to research done by the International Centre for Research on Women, ICRW, "even where they say to have actively participated in demystefying HIV and AIDS, not all religious organizations or congregations are responding – many have not yet taken it as their concern, yet at the same time, congregational and personal response has been happening which is more difficult to accumulatively measure than the more visible organizational response. The perception and reality are not always matched."But it is generally agreed now that while many have not responded quickly, some faith based groups have been working in community based care and prevention and have had clear experiences of stigma reduction in whole communities.
There has been characterization of a relationally based community development approach that affirms a wider confidentiality determined by the community that is a safe haven for expansion of response for inclusion.
This is in contrast to community fear, lack of inclusion, and stigma. Yet the religious sector (churches, mosques, religious schools, lay groups, religious NGOs, ecumenical groups, etc.) have far-reaching influence throughout Africa and the rest of the world.
The fact that religious communities are usually interwoven into the wider community is now being turned into a major asset and strength for scaling up, for sustaining response, and for promoting mutual healthy accountability for care, support and change.This is based on the fact that the acknowledgement of capacity for personal faith, is critical to effective community response.
The the religious sector therefore have a responsibility to promote, prevention, and to provide care, comfort, and spiritual support to individuals and communities who are HIV-infected or affected.
In particular, religious leaders must play an active role in disseminating nonstigmatising and discriminating preventive messages, and in leading the fight against stigma wherever it occurs.

Stigmatised but religious leaders now wake up to HIV and AIDS challenge

By Henry Neondo


HIV and AIDS is now 20 years but details about the stigma it has had on religious leaders across Africa are just emerging.
Since when the first ecumenical plan of action for responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in November 2001, the church's approach has been for the eradification of stigma and discrimination in the larger communities they lived in, but now, details are coming out on silent suffering among religious leaders infected with the scourge.
Participants at the forum noted that while religious leaders are expected by virtue of positions they hold in most communties expected to be counsellors among other roles, few have known what they have had to undergo themselves when they get infected by HIV and AIDS.
According to Rev Dickson Mwadime, a religious leader from Kenya's Coast Province, while it was easy for a religious leader to advice the congregation on the ABC's of HIV and AIDS, the same was not the same when the leader was to disclose that s/he was HIV positive.
He said that this emanates from the association of the HIV scourge to promiscuity and the first reaction a religious leader who declares his HIV status gets from his flock is " the pastor was not holy after all!"
The negative reaction according to Rev Mwadime did not end with the congregation alone, as the pastor risks being defroked by his superiors.
For example, Luke, not real name was a pastor in a mainstream church in a rural area of Kenya. Few people knew much about AIDS and when they were told they didnt believe.
Then in 1999, his children were 10, 7 and 4, his wife died. The death certificate said Tuberculosis, but in the hospital Luke was told that it might be AIDS and was adviced to go for testing.
"On the day I received the result, I was about to die" confesses Pastor Luke. Desperate for advice and comfort, he went and told his Bishop.
"You are a disgrace to the church" the bishop curtly told him and warned Luke not to tell anyone that he has the sickness and was asked to remarry if he were to retain his position in the ministry, so that "people will not be suspicious".
That to Warren W. Buckingham III, senior Regional HIV and AIDS advisor sums up the reaction the religious community has had on the scourge.
The relgious's leader's response to the scourge has been judgement, damnation, persecution and condemnation of the infected, especially among their leader's ladder.
While the religious response to disasters have been commendable over the years, this has not been so with the HIV and AIDS. Initially, the reaction has been that of "inaction and misaction", he said.
Archibishop Benjamin Nzimbi, the head of the Anglican of Church of Kenya and chairmna of ten east and central African nations’ religious leaders action against HIV and AIDS agrees with the sentments and called upon the religious leaders to apologise for the sins of ommission and commission.
Addressing an international forum to discuss stigma associated with HIV and AIDS in the religious sector, Rev Nzimbi apologised on behalf other religious leaders for things they ought to have done and have not and the things they have done when they should not.
He said that the religious sector took time to react and learn about the scourge and rued that although the religious sector has a lot of influence in the society, their influence on HIV and AIDS however has been minimal.
He called on religious leaders to learn on new happening on HIV and not be quick to condemn the infected and the affected.
Rev Nzimbi said an appropriate response by the religious leaders would have quickly built pressure upon the government to make accessible the ARVs, particularly at a time as this when the prices are affordable.
Religious groups, in general, have a reputation for responding to the issue of HIV in negative terms.
According to Warren, factors that influence this perception have included judgmental comment from religious leaders; debate about condoms; and an obstructive stance towards policy development, particularly regarding drug use, commercial sex, and harm reduction approaches.
The religious sector has been largely unwilling to engage in any way that could imply dilution of moral standards.
As a result, people with HIV have experienced rejection by religious people, congregations or institutions.
According to research done by the International Centre for Research on Women, ICRW, "even where they say to have actively participated in demystefying HIV and AIDS, not all religious organizations or congregations are responding – many have not yet taken it as their concern, yet at the same time, congregational and personal response has been happening which is more difficult to accumulatively measure than the more visible organizational response. The perception and reality are not always matched."But it is generally agreed now that while many have not responded quickly, some faith based groups have been working in community based care and prevention and have had clear experiences of stigma reduction in whole communities.
There has been characterization of a relationally based community development approach that affirms a wider confidentiality determined by the community that is a safe haven for expansion of response for inclusion.
This is in contrast to community fear, lack of inclusion, and stigma. Yet the religious sector (churches, mosques, religious schools, lay groups, religious NGOs, ecumenical groups, etc.) have far-reaching influence throughout Africa and the rest of the world.
The fact that religious communities are usually interwoven into the wider community is now being turned into a major asset and strength for scaling up, for sustaining response, and for promoting mutual healthy accountability for care, support and change.This is based on the fact that the acknowledgement of capacity for personal faith, is critical to effective community response.
The the religious sector therefore have a responsibility to promote, prevention, and to provide care, comfort, and spiritual support to individuals and communities who are HIV-infected or affected.
In particular, religious leaders must play an active role in disseminating nonstigmatising and discriminating preventive messages, and in leading the fight against stigma wherever it occurs.

Stigmatised but religious leaders now wake up to HIV and AIDS challenge

By Henry Neondo


HIV and AIDS is now 20 years but details about the stigma it has had on religious leaders across Africa are just emerging.
Since when the first ecumenical plan of action for responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in November 2001, the church's approach has been for the eradification of stigma and discrimination in the larger communities they lived in, but now, details are coming out on silent suffering among religious leaders infected with the scourge.
Participants at the forum noted that while religious leaders are expected by virtue of positions they hold in most communties expected to be counsellors among other roles, few have known what they have had to undergo themselves when they get infected by HIV and AIDS.
According to Rev Dickson Mwadime, a religious leader from Kenya's Coast Province, while it was easy for a religious leader to advice the congregation on the ABC's of HIV and AIDS, the same was not the same when the leader was to disclose that s/he was HIV positive.
He said that this emanates from the association of the HIV scourge to promiscuity and the first reaction a religious leader who declares his HIV status gets from his flock is " the pastor was not holy after all!"
The negative reaction according to Rev Mwadime did not end with the congregation alone, as the pastor risks being defroked by his superiors.
For example, Luke, not real name was a pastor in a mainstream church in a rural area of Kenya. Few people knew much about AIDS and when they were told they didnt believe.
Then in 1999, his children were 10, 7 and 4, his wife died. The death certificate said Tuberculosis, but in the hospital Luke was told that it might be AIDS and was adviced to go for testing.
"On the day I received the result, I was about to die" confesses Pastor Luke. Desperate for advice and comfort, he went and told his Bishop.
"You are a disgrace to the church" the bishop curtly told him and warned Luke not to tell anyone that he has the sickness and was asked to remarry if he were to retain his position in the ministry, so that "people will not be suspicious".
That to Warren W. Buckingham III, senior Regional HIV and AIDS advisor sums up the reaction the religious community has had on the scourge.
The relgious's leader's response to the scourge has been judgement, damnation, persecution and condemnation of the infected, especially among their leader's ladder.
While the religious response to disasters have been commendable over the years, this has not been so with the HIV and AIDS. Initially, the reaction has been that of "inaction and misaction", he said.
Archibishop Benjamin Nzimbi, the head of the Anglican of Church of Kenya and chairmna of ten east and central African nations’ religious leaders action against HIV and AIDS agrees with the sentments and called upon the religious leaders to apologise for the sins of ommission and commission.
Addressing an international forum to discuss stigma associated with HIV and AIDS in the religious sector, Rev Nzimbi apologised on behalf other religious leaders for things they ought to have done and have not and the things they have done when they should not.
He said that the religious sector took time to react and learn about the scourge and rued that although the religious sector has a lot of influence in the society, their influence on HIV and AIDS however has been minimal.
He called on religious leaders to learn on new happening on HIV and not be quick to condemn the infected and the affected.
Rev Nzimbi said an appropriate response by the religious leaders would have quickly built pressure upon the government to make accessible the ARVs, particularly at a time as this when the prices are affordable.
Religious groups, in general, have a reputation for responding to the issue of HIV in negative terms.
According to Warren, factors that influence this perception have included judgmental comment from religious leaders; debate about condoms; and an obstructive stance towards policy development, particularly regarding drug use, commercial sex, and harm reduction approaches.
The religious sector has been largely unwilling to engage in any way that could imply dilution of moral standards.
As a result, people with HIV have experienced rejection by religious people, congregations or institutions.
According to research done by the International Centre for Research on Women, ICRW, "even where they say to have actively participated in demystefying HIV and AIDS, not all religious organizations or congregations are responding – many have not yet taken it as their concern, yet at the same time, congregational and personal response has been happening which is more difficult to accumulatively measure than the more visible organizational response. The perception and reality are not always matched."But it is generally agreed now that while many have not responded quickly, some faith based groups have been working in community based care and prevention and have had clear experiences of stigma reduction in whole communities.
There has been characterization of a relationally based community development approach that affirms a wider confidentiality determined by the community that is a safe haven for expansion of response for inclusion.
This is in contrast to community fear, lack of inclusion, and stigma. Yet the religious sector (churches, mosques, religious schools, lay groups, religious NGOs, ecumenical groups, etc.) have far-reaching influence throughout Africa and the rest of the world.
The fact that religious communities are usually interwoven into the wider community is now being turned into a major asset and strength for scaling up, for sustaining response, and for promoting mutual healthy accountability for care, support and change.This is based on the fact that the acknowledgement of capacity for personal faith, is critical to effective community response.
The the religious sector therefore have a responsibility to promote, prevention, and to provide care, comfort, and spiritual support to individuals and communities who are HIV-infected or affected.
In particular, religious leaders must play an active role in disseminating nonstigmatising and discriminating preventive messages, and in leading the fight against stigma wherever it occurs.