Khadija Magardie
The Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference has received a $5-million (R31- million) grant to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic in South Africa.
The Catholic newspaper The Southern Cross reported last week that the grant is part of a R600-million package to various non- governmental and medical organisations, including churches.
The money is the lifeline of a partnership by the United States-based Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) and pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, a leading producer of anti-retroviral drugs.
The aim of the project, named Secure the Future, is “to find sustainable solutions to the HIV/Aids crisis through medical and public health training, access to life- extending Aids drugs, improved HIV intervention and support for women and children”.
Given the church’s uncompromising stance on contraception, particularly condoms, injecting much-needed funds into an institution which has slammed the government’s safer sex campaign as “promoting promiscuity” appears a questionable move.
But the programme, which spans South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland, is an extension of entrenched healthcare provision by faith-based organisations (FBOs) which provide services and facilities in accordance with their respective religious prescriptions. The Religious Aids Programme, which was launched in 1996, is one of many initiatives aimed at mobilising religious communities in the fight against HIV/Aids.
According to the South African National Health Review of 1999, nearly all the faith communities offer primary healthcare services, both in rural and urban areas.
The Catholic Health Care Desk co-ordinates a network of clinics which provide basic healthcare services to thousands of people. The Islamic Medical Association, through volunteer medical specialists, operate numerous clinics throughout the country. The Hindu Community offers services such as the SaiBaba medical camps and the Ramakrishna clinic.
There is considerable co-operation between denominations and faith communities in response to HIV/Aids. In Mpumalanga, for instance, a joint response to Aids includes 39 of the 64 churches working in the area.
The CMMB has said it will “fund programmes approved by the bishops in accordance with Catholic moral teachings”. This would incorporate the promotion of abstinence before marriage, and of sexual relationships only within a marital context.
It therefore comes as no surprise that the main target audience of the campaign is the country’s youth. The campaign organisers have also indicated the strong emphasis on support for women and children, especially Aids orphans.
The most common intervention in HIV/Aids prevention by FBOs is through education programmes coupled with material support.