Aids-related deaths in South Africa: 1 974 137 at noon on November 29 2006
The Catholic Church has told the Kenyan government to ban the advertisement and distribution of condoms ahead of World Aids Day.
Speaking at the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya’s national religious leaders’ conference in Nairobi on HIV/Aids, Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki said the advertisements encourage the use of condoms and were wrecking families. He argued that free distribution of condoms was creating more problems by encouraging immorality rather than eradicating the HIV/Aids pandemic.
The conference, aimed at combating stigma, denial and discrimination around HIV/Aids, brought together religious leaders to discuss how to contribute towards combating Aids.
Elsewhere, Anglican Church Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi has accused churches in Kenya of not doing enough to deal with issues of stigma and discrimination and the devastating impact of HIV/Aids.
‘We have too many smart talkers who are saying all the right things but there is very little action to show for it,” he told a special pre-World Aids Day prayer service to remember those who have died of HIV/Aids-related illness.
He accused some NGOs of taking advantage of the pandemic to make money for their own selfish use.
‘Very little of the monies given towards HIV/Aids programmes actually reach the people infected or affected by the disease. A huge proportion goes towards fat-cat salaries and administrative costs,” he said.
Nzimbi also urged companies to review employment policies and employ people who are HIV-positive.
Meanwhile, Kenyan prisoners with Aids will soon be released if a draft Bill is passed into law.
The country’s Vice-President, Moody Awori, said HIV-positive inmates or those with full-blown Aids could be granted ‘quality life with their families instead of being left to die in prison”, but that they would have to prove that they are not a security threat before they could enjoy this amnesty.
It was unfair to keep the patients in the prisons where they would die instead of releasing them to their families for the necessary support, Awori said.
‘It is very inhuman to let prisoners suffering from the disease die in prison, whereas there’s the option of releasing them back to their family members where they could get quality time with their friends,” he said.
‘We are therefore considering releasing those patients, mostly in a critical condition, since we have entered into an era where hope in treating and caring for people with this disease is with their family members.”
Source: The East African Standard