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HIV prevention and treatment: A call to church leaders
Tafadzwa Mukandi, Health & Development Network Key Correspondent
May 07, 2007

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Churches in Zimbabwe have done a great deal of work in the response to HIV. The churches have strength, they have credibility, and they are grounded in communities. They can make a real difference in HIV initiatives, but the challenge to the churches is felt more deeply than this. As the pandemic has unfolded, it has exposed fault lines that reach to the core of our theology, our ethics, our liturgy and our practice of ministry.

Today the churches are obliged to acknowledge that we have, however unwittingly, contributed both actively and passively to the spread of the virus. Our difficulty in addressing issues of sex and sexuality with people has often made it painful for us to engage, in any honest and realistic way, with issues of sex education and HIV prevention. Sex is a reality and there are ways to reduce transmission of HIV. The church urgently needs to confront its own ideas about condom use.

Our tendency to exclude others, our interpretation of the scriptures, and our theology of sin have all combined to promote the stigmatization, exclusion and suffering of people living with HIV (PLHIV). This has undermined the effectiveness of care, education and prevention efforts, and inflicted additional suffering on those already affected by HIV.

As churches, we must now act responsibly to overcome stigma and discrimination within our own structures, while being a voice of moral strength demanding that our communities, nations and wider society respect the rights and dignity of PLHIV and condemn acts that stigmatize. Even now the answer of many churches to the spread of the epidemic remains focussed on the highly important, but still limited, moral guidelines of "no sex before marriage" and "be faithful in marriage".

These two elements combined are of eminent value and are used by the church as an important moral entry point. With much pain, however, we must also admit that too many church leaders, pastors and churches condemn their PLHIV brothers and sisters and declare them sinners.

What would Jesus say? This is the great question of the day. Didn't he declare, "Those of you who are without sins throw the first stone"(John 8: 7)? Is it up to us to condemn our fellow Christians, whose infection with HIV is influenced by poor living conditions or unequal social status?

The HIV epidemic can not be understood without reference to changing social conditions, inequalities and the causes of poverty. In a nation where citizens are grappling with the legacies of colonialism, extreme poverty, drought, structural adjustments and bad governance, the human and socio-economic toll of the epidemic will remain significant for generations to come if poverty reduction does not take centre stage. We must understand and effectively address these social inequalities that may be a more pathogenic force in the epidemic than individual choices.

Failure on the part of the government to respect, protect and fulfil the fundamental human rights to privacy, dignity, health and freedom from discrimination also increases vulnerability to HIV and hampers an effective response to the epidemic. A human rights based approach to HIV in which these fundamental rights are respected, protected and fulfilled is crucial to breaking the cycle of discrimination.

There is need for the church to put pressure on the government to implement policies that improve access to essential treatment. The move by government to privatize such important facilities as the health sector has made access to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs almost impossible for the poor. The government has, in effect, left the distribution of drugs to the private sector. Pricing structures imposed by manufacturers make the drugs unaffordable for too many. As if this is not enough, international trade agreements, notably the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), have hindered any large-scale attempt to produce and market the drugs at affordable levels.

The challenge to the church is to come to terms with the socio-cultural and economic conditions surrounding the pandemic. Given the urgency of the situation, and the conviction that the churches have a distinctive role to play in the response to the epidemic, we need to rethink our mission, and transform our structures and ways of working.

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