Religious leaders enlisted in fight against HIV/AIDS

Religious leaders from Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen have agreed to create a network to combat HIV/AIDS in their countries and produce plans that aim to, among other things, train hundreds of their colleagues to get involved in fighting the pandemic. The agreement was reached at the end of a four-day workshop held in the Yemeni capital, Sana, which ended on Wednesday. It was attended by 44 imams, academics and prominent religious figures. The participants received basic training on how to deal with HIV/AIDS issues, communicate the right messages to the public and reviewed awareness-raising materials produced during a December 2004 meeting of both Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Cairo. The network, which will tackle the disease from a faith standpoint, will coordinate with other networks, under the auspices of National AIDS Programmes and the United Nations Development Programme’s HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in the Arab States (HARPAS). It is expected to become active in 2006. Speaking during the opening of the workshop, Shaykh Yahya al-Najjar, the Yemeni deputy minister of endowments and religious affairs, emphasized the responsibility which religious authorities have in confronting the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, while concomitantly promoting moral and safe behaviour. Flavia Pansieri, the UNDP Resident Coordinator in Yemen, explained that the disease must be considered from many standpoints. "HIV/AIDS is not only a health issue, as it has social, economic, development as well as religious implications," she said. Majid Al-Junaid, the Yemeni Deputy Minister of Public Health and Population, stressed the urgent need for a coordinated approach. "The efforts to combat this serious disease require joint action among all the actors – be they governments, civil society or international donors and organizations – to bring the virus to a halt," he said. The workshop supported discussions on the role of religious authorities in promoting awareness about HIV/AIDS, in reforming social behaviour as a preventative measure and in ensuring that people living with HIV/AIDS are not subjected to discrimination or deprivation of their inalienable human and religious rights. Several sessions focused on generating action plans to integrate the work of these religious leaders into national HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. While other sessions focused on enhancing the skills of religious leaders to communicate with the public, and more specifically, with vulnerable populations. According to UNAIDS, there are about half a million HIV/AIDS cases reported in the Arab region – with around 92,000 new cases each year. In Yemen, the exact magnitude of the problem has not been determined, although UNAIDS estimates indicate adult prevalence of 0.1 percent. There are, however, indications that this is a growing problem. The National AIDS Programme surveillance report indicates that the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases reported by the end of 2004 stood at 1,600. With the absence of sufficient data, however, officials say there could be more unreported cases. The workshop was jointly organized by the UNDP office in Yemen, HARPAS and the steering committee of the Religious Leaders Initiative to Combat HIV/AIDS in the Arab World. It was the fourth in a series of five sub-regional workshops. Khaled Abdul Magead, the UNDP Programme Analyst for Yemen, said the 15 Yemeni participants will meet within two weeks to outline the implementation of their country plan, which aims to train a further 600 religious leaders.