Africa: To Battle HIV, Go for Public Tests, Resolve Clergymen

Religious leaders in Africa are banding together publicly to urge HIV testing as a way to control the spread of the virus.

"In Africa, we don't talk about sex, we practice it," Hannu Happonen said at a Nairobi, Kenya, meeting of Churches United Against HIV and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa. "However, it is time we started talking about sex in a bid to reverse the trend."

Known by the name Cuaha, the coalition is a network of more than 40 churches of various denominations represented in Finland and Africa.

One of the religious leaders at the meeting called on the group to address the discrimination and other social burdens shouldered by those with HIV.

"These are the evil [words] some of us use in labeling those who are living with HIV and AIDS in our midst and we need to overcome them in order to realize gainful inroads in the fight against the pandemic," said Chabu Kangale, executive director of the International Network of Religious Leaders Association.

Clerics should be at the forefront of reversing HIV infection rates, particularly among young people, Bishop Cosmos Moenga told the gathering. He urged his colleagues to promote safer-sex practices, particularly among members of their respective congregations.

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