HIV and AIDS: Partnership between faith-based organisations and people living with HIV

by Sophie Dilmitis

As a person who has been living with HIV for 15 years I know how important partnerships between faith-based organisations and people living with HIV are.

Many religious leaders and churches believe they have a moral duty to offer care for people living with HIV and to get involved in prevention. Whilst this moral obligation is welcomed and important, it can make relationships unequal as it creates a dichotomy of ‘supporter’ versus ‘supported’. At this stage of the epidemic, we need to move from moral obligation to meaningful partnerships in the response to HIV and AIDS. A person who uses drugs should be spoken to as Jesus spoke with Zacchaeus, the tax collector or the Samaritan woman at the well or the lepers and all those who were rejected by society. Jesus spoke with them as equals, without looking down on them.

Faith-based organisations play an important role in providing health worldwide and this is critical for so many who urgently need support. However, we still need more religious leaders and faith-based organisations that can boldly speak out against human rights violations. The Human Rights Declaration was founded on the values that all people of faith uphold and yet many people struggle to balance rights versus values.

The human right to information and education is often ignored in the context of sexuality education and HIV programming. Often, it is the people who have personally experienced these challenges who stand, alone, and advocate for change. Building equal partnerships can help bridge issues around morality, as HIV is so much more than just a health issue. Equal partnership cannot be forged from a perception of assumed promiscuity, homosexuality, drug use and sex work. To develop meaningful relationships with people living with HIV, religious leaders and faith-based organisation can take the following recommendations:

1. Work with people who have real-life experience with HIV . To address HIV we must remember the responsibilities we all have to provide correct and consistent information. If you are not comfortable doing this, invite someone who is comfortable addressing issues around sex and sexuality as these issues are closely linked to HIV and are central to human nature.

2. Create HIV-prevention message that also reach people living with HIV . People living with HIV should not be excluded from HIV messaging but included as partners for creating change and valued members of the community.

3. Improve knowledge on HIV and stay informed . Religious leaders need to become well versed in the language and have well developed knowledge around HIV. Faith-based organisations need to speak out on these issues, with people living with HIV, and provide accurate and comprehensive prevention information.

Sophie Dilmitis, World YWCA HIV and AIDS Coordinator