Fighting HIV/AIDS is everyone's responsibility. Women are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of their economic and social status. Christians and the Church are called to follow the example of Jesus. We can start by raising awareness, challenging attitudes and offering our support.
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus which attacks the human immune system. In time the body may not be able to fight off rare illnesses and cancers. When this happens a person is said to have AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). HIV can be passed on through sexual intercourse without using a condom; through sharing drug-injecting equipment; from a mother to her baby during pregnancy or birth, or through breastfeeding; through infected blood transfusions.
India: Practical Christian caring
I came to Bangalore to set up a private practice in a poor, predominantly Muslim community know as the Tannery Road. When my work became increasingly involved in pregnancy terminations, I realised there was a serious problem in the community. My clients were often women involved in the sex trade.
I felt that not educating these women was to encourage the system. So I set up the Women's Health Aid and Development (WHAD) project to provide health education, awareness of reproductive health and economic skills empowerment. Our AIDS awareness programme includes education through videos, issuing condoms, monitoring their usage, and helping girls to insist on cleanliness from the clients.
Health workers do daily visits to prostitutes since the girls are reluctant to come openly to the clinic. AIDS or sexually-transmitted disease testing is not forced on the girls. We also make contact with the many unlicensed brothels, such as the one run by Farida, a 48-year old woman. Farida lets the girls in her brothel have access to condoms and recommends the WHAD centre to them.
However, we find that we are often working against the local doctors who charge for unnecessary treatment. We insist that health is a right for all. Ida Deva Chandrika
Zambia: An AIDS drama
The United Church of Zambia's Women's Fellowship (KBBK) uses drama to raise awareness about AIDS. Their short play shows a mother shouting at her daughter who is too ill from AIDS to move. Another daughter tells her to stop and then runs off to find a helper from the KBBK, who comes to speak to the mother. "What she needs is love and affection," says the helper. "You don't know how she caught this illness and in the end, it doesn't really matter." The mother protests, but the KBBK lady continues: "She is still your daughter. You need to care for her and feed her. Look, she's too weak to eat and now she's losing weight. You should also pray for her.
Botswana: Help us
A young lady enters my office and says to me: "I am HIV- positive and I need your help." She explains that she has been infected for three years, but that she has decided to fight the disease and raise awareness about it. She visits clinics, schools and businesses to talk about HIV/AIDS. She encourages HIV-positive people to speak out so that they may be helped. We assist her by providing transport and inviting her to speak to various groups. What struck me is that she does not look any different to other women her age. How many other people do we talk to each day without knowing that they are dying inside and that they need love and care? Prince Dibeela, United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, Botswana Synod
Bible study
The Bible has many examples of how people with diseases were seen in Jesus' time. Those with leprosy or skin diseases in particular were regarded as unclean: society believed that their ailments were the result of God's judgement on past sins they had committed. So they were excluded from society and often ended up as beggars, such as Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31). This mentality is apparent in John 9.1-3, when Jesus and his disciples meet a blind man. The disciples ask Jesus: "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" And Jesus answers: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned."
Jesus shows love and compassion towards excluded people every time he meets them. He never turns them away. In the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10, he describes how an injured man is left to die by passers-by until a Samaritan stops to help him. He explains how we should strive to be "good neighbours" to one another, just like the Samaritan was.
Questions
Facts
Source: United Nations
Activities
Action list