CABSA Christian AIDS Bureau for Southern Africa

HIV and the Church, Challenged or Changed?

HIV and AIDS Lets check our knowledge

UMAN MMUNE DEFICIENCY IRUS HIVHIV HIVHIV AIDSAIDS AIDSAIDS CQUIRED MMUNE EFICIENCY YNDROME

How does HIV attack the immune system Slide 15

How does it work? Your body is protected by the immune system made up of White Blood Cells (WBC).

White Blood Cells fight disease and germs for your body. Your body is protected

Strong diseases make you sick, but the white blood cells usually win in the end. The Struggle

HIV is a VERY strong germ that attacks the white blood cells themselves. HIV attacks

After a very long struggle lasting years, HIV kills most of your white blood cells, leaving your body unprotected. The Struggle - AIDS the victor

Many other (secondary) diseases attack and kill the body: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) No protection

Does the virus really exist?  The virus is real –  We can photograph it  We can measure antibodies  We can measure its effect  Scientists do this in a laboratory

The situation is not really as serious as people make it sound. In South Africa 1000 deaths per day1000 deaths per day 1500 new infections per day1500 new infections per day

AIDS is a disease of poor people South Africa’s wealthiest were the only class in which married couples had higher prevalence rates than their unmarried counterparts. Olive Shisana, HSRC

I am Safe – I’m Married "For most women, the major risk factor for HIV infection is being married.” Elizabeth Reid and Michael Bailey

I don’t want to share a room or a house with someone who is HIV positive – I might become infected

Ways of transmitting HIV Sexual activity Mother to baby Bloodproducts

I can be infected by a toilet seat or shared cutlery or by mosquitoes

How HIV is not transmitted Slide 51

Stomach Salivary Gland

There is nothing I can do to stop me becoming infected – if it is going to happen, it is going to happen

“Risky behaviour is actually a symptom of a greater problem: a perceived lack of future.” Oil Reach Out

What role(s) are Churches playing in the AIDS pandemic?  Warning against sin – inflating judgmentalism  Portraying PLWAs as sinners – fuelling stigma & secrecy  Burying the dead – only reacting  Keeping silent – promoting apathy  Helping “out there” – promoting denial  Some care actions do take place  SSDIM

Why do Churches react in this way?  Ignorance / do not know how to help  Too busy  Wrong conceptions  “Simple solutions” paradigm  Fear of the truth  Gender issues and vulnerability  Embarrassment  Focussing on “sex-sins”  Theology … inward, pietistic, repentance first, judgement, privatised salvation,  Not holistic world view (Old Testament SHALOM)

CABSA can help your congregations to become “Caring Christian Communities ministering reconciliation and hope in a world with HIV

How can we help the Churches?  Sensitize  Mobilize  Network  Information