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30 June 2005

UN, NGOs told Faith-Based Organizations crucial in AIDS fight

Peter Kenny
Geneva (ENI). Up to 40 per cent of health care in poor countries is delivered by private religious institutions according to the first systematic study of faith-based organizations and HIV/AIDS.

Dr Rabia Mathai, the senior vice-president, Global Program Policy, of the US-based Catholic Medical Mission Board, told members of United Nations' and non-governmental organizations in Geneva on 29 June that faith-based organizations are "true partners" in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.

She was speaking at a discussion on "Faith in Action", the first systematic study of faith-based organizations, or FBOs as they are known, and HIV/AIDS. The presentation was organized by the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance on HIV/AIDS.

"The global community is urgently seeking to identify all relevant partners," said Mathai."But the evidence-based body of knowledge on the role of FBOs in addressing HIV and AIDS has been limited. Faith-based organizations should be recognised as a special group."

As an example, Dr Mathai cited the Roman Catholic Church in India, whose members make up only 2 per cent or about 20 million of the one billion people, but which accounts for 26 per cent of the country's healthcare infrastructure.

She said there are 5000 Catholic healthcare facilities in India of which 750 are hospitals, and more than 4000 are dispensaries and primary health centres. In rural areas these represent 85 per cent of medical infrastructure. The church runs 114 nursing schools, 6 medical schools, and has 600 sisters working as doctors in 47 dioceses.

Mathai said the study was commissioned by the Catholic Medical Mission Board, but was independently designed, conducted and analysed by the multi-national Global Health Council, a coalition of governmental groups and NGOs.

Another speaker, Lawrence Maund, an ordained Buddhist monk, explained how the Sangha Metta Project in Thailand which he heads, runs interfaith health training schemes on HIV/AIDS for Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims.

"The Sangha Metta Project is based in Chiang Mai, Thailand and was established to promote and support the work of Buddhist monks and nuns in HIV/AIDS prevention and care," Maund said of the initiative which is supported by UNAIDS and UNICEF. "Through the project, thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns all throughout Southeast Asia have been educated and trained in HIV/AIDS prevention and care and are now working in their communities."

Asunta Wagura, who has been HIV positive for 16 years and heads the Kenya Network of Women Living with AIDS (KENWA), spoke at the Geneva presentation. "Although living with HIV is a calamity, it also taught me life is a gift," said Wagura, who had been invited to visit the Sangha Metta Project in Thailand. "We just want to be what we were, so we do not have to walk with our faces down. Faith-based organizations can give us hope."

© 1994 - 2006 Ecumenical News International.

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