As a major international AIDS conference gets set to commence, new research has estimated that the African churches’ contribution in the fight against AIDS is worth at least £2.5 billion. Yet this work barely rates a mention in global strategies for tackling the pandemic.

|TOP|In a new report entitled Faith Untapped, Christian relief and development agency Tearfund calls for greater resources for the African church to realise its potential to be one of the most effective agents in the fight against AIDS.

Tearfund explains that the African churches’ contribution is equivalent to the UN’s estimate for a ‘comprehensive HIV prevention package’ which could avert 29 million of the 45 million new infections expected between 2002 and 2010 (UN Population Fund).

Writing in the foreword to Faith Untapped, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, warns that “with little recognition and scant regard” for the work of churches in caring for AIDS sufferers and their families, this hidden army is “being stretched to breaking point”.

He adds, “Churches represent vast untapped potential to change behaviour and attitudes. If we put our own house in order and if we are properly resourced and trained, churches and other faith groups could become one of the single most effective strategies for tackling the pandemic.”

|AD|Africa’s churches and “their vast networks of volunteers are one of the few groups which are wrestling with the pandemic at close quarters every day,” says Lord Carey.

Bishop Charles Gaikia Gaita of the Anglican Church of Kenya, who will be working with Tearfund at the Toronto conference, said: “The church had been silent about the presence of HIV/AIDS for a long time. There was discrimination, isolation and utter rejection of people living with HIV and AIDS.”

Faith Untapped also highlights that the church must also acknowledge its role in spreading stigma and discrimination.

Among the mounting evidence of churches’ impact cited in Faith Untapped are:

- 97 per cent of congregations across six African countries are working with orphans and vulnerable children according to a UNICEF survey.

- 1,500 church volunteers in one Kenyan project are supporting 29,000 people affecting by HIV and Aids.

- Another survey showed that 79% of churches and Christian NGOs in Namibia were responding to HIV and Aids.

- Faith groups provide an average of 40% of the heath care in many African countries.

- A network of 600 churches in Zimbabwe is supporting more than 100,000 orphans

Faith Untapped concludes: “It is now time for recognition and investment to help churches become one of the world’s most effective responses to the global AIDS crisis.”