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Faith-Based Organisations Play Major Role in HIV/AIDS Care, says WHO

A new WHO report has said acknowledged the major role of faith-based organisations in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.

by Maria Mackay
Posted: Monday, February 12, 2007, 6:34 (GMT)
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a report in which it says that more effort is needed to encourage greater collaboration between public health agencies and faith-based organisations (FBOs), if progress is to be made towards the goal of universal access towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.

The report, "Appreciating assets: mapping, understanding, translating and engaging religious health assets in Zambia and Lesotho", estimates that between 30 per cent and 70 per cent of the health infrastructure in Africa is currently owned by faith-based organisations yet there is often little cooperation between these organisations and mainstream public health programmes.

The study focused on Lesotho and Zambia, which had HIV prevalence rates of 23.2 per cent and 17 per cent respectively in 2005. It found that Christian hospitals and health centres are providing about 40 per cent of HIV care and treatment services in Lesotho and almost a third of the HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in Zambia are run by FBOs.

According to the report, FBOs play a much greater role in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa than previously recognised.

In light of the key contribution of FBOs in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the WHO report says greater coordination and better communication are "urgently needed" between organisations of different faiths and the private and public health sectors.

"Faith-based organisations are a vital part of civil society," said Dr Kevin De Cock, Director of WHO's Department of HIV/AIDS. "Since they provide a substantial portion of care in developing countries, often reaching vulnerable populations living under adverse conditions, FBOs must be recognised as essential contributors towards universal access efforts."

The pilot study was undertaken by partners in the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP) at the Universities of Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, and Witwatersrand in South Africa, and researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, USA.



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The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.

Added: Saturday, February 17, 2007, 18:01 (GMT)

The conclusions in this report come as no surprise. In 1989 in a dissertation on HIV/AIDS & the Church 1983 - 88, I concluded that the Churches had a major role to play in education & prevention where this infection is concerned.
Why has it taken so long to get just this far?
There is still mistrust of F.B.O. by people outside of faith belief systems. Many do not take us seriously. Their suspicions are, at least in part, well founded if we look at our history.
Again, too often reports & worthy treatises are written in unnecessarily complex language & thus not widely read.
That said, there are many (in Christian circles) who would rather not think about a condition which may be sexually transmitted. It is, for them, convenient to say that the Church has other priorities.

Ann Hine, Havant. UK

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