Kenyan Protestant Churches have resolved to step up efforts, including use of the liturgy, to combat AIDS, an official said on Wednesday. "The National Council of Churches of Kenya will give the society spiritual and moral dimensions about the disease and further integrate AIDS issues in the church's programs to curb its spread," NCCK General Secretary the Rev. Mutava Musyimi told a press conference. Musyimi said protestant churches "will mainstream AIDS and reproductive health activities into the church liturgy, worship and calendar, otherwise the consequences of failure will be horrendous." The NCCK, an umbrella body of Kenyan protestant churches, will strengthen home-based care and counseling for people with AIDS in a bid to eliminate the stigma and discrimination linked to it, he said. AIDS has killed some 1.5 million people in the east African country since the early 1980s. Some 2.2 million Kenyans, or 13 percent of the population, are currently living with HIV/AIDS.

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