Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. South Africa

Religious leaders failing on HIV/AIDS crisis

    JOHANNESBURG

    A top South African Anglican cleric has accused religious leaders of failing to confront the global HIV/AIDS crisis.

    Cape Town Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, said too many churches continued to regard AIDS as "God's retribution" and were contributing to the stigma surrounding the disease.

    He said the HIV/AIDS epidemic highlighted the "shameful" role churches have played in perpetuating discrimination.

    "The church has never been good at dealing sensibly with sex, but we have too often condemned, as though sexual sin were the worst sin, and as though all those who are infected 'deserved it'," Reuters quoted Ndungane as saying.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join