Faith Groups Urged to Unite in Fight against HIV. 18/7/10
Religious groups were urged to work together to tackle the AIDS pandemic,
By Dan Wooding
18 July 2010
Religious groups were on Saturday, July 17, 2010, urged to work together to tackle the AIDS pandemic, at a gathering of global faith representatives in Vienna.
Speaking to some two hundred Christian, Jewish and Islamic representatives from Africa, Asia and Europe, Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS said, “There is much more that unites us than divides us, in our response to HIV. We are all in this together. Success depends on our collective efforts.”
According to a news release from Tearfund, a Christian development agency, the faith meeting came on the eve of the international AIDS conference, AIDS 2010, a biennial gathering that brings together some 20,000 health workers, scientists, academics, grassroots workers and people living with HIV and AIDS.
Jan Beagle said, “Sometimes we can find ourselves with very different perspectives on these thorny issues and we need to strive towards dialogue and approaches that work to save lives, that empower people living with HIV, women, and marginalized groups within societies to take leadership roles within their communities to eliminate stigma, discrimination and violence.”
The Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, challenged the question at the heart of the conference, “HIV: What’s faith got to do with it?"