HIV and AIDS
Franciscans International's AIDS Campaign is addressing the needs and concerns of Franciscan brothers and sisters working with people living with HIV and AIDS. In 2005 UNAIDS estimated that 3.1 million adults and children have died from AIDS-related causes, 40.3 million people are living with HIV and AIDS and 4.9 million are newly infected.
More than 14 million children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS-related deaths, with the highest concentration being in sub-Saharan Africa. Children are disproportionately affected by the pandemic and many are required to leave school and engage in activities to support parents and other family members who become progressively sicker and who are thus unable to work.
We recognise that it is therefore crucial to address the pandemic immediately, building on the concerns of Franciscans working with people living with HIV and AIDS.
 Through a partnership with the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, Franciscans International is working with other faith-based organisations to ensure people living with HIV and AIDS know and take advantage of their rights, to combat stigma and discrimination and to advocate for universal access to treatment. We actively support and participate in the EAA's actions and campaigns; monitoring, working with and reporting to international organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, providing a voice and support for Franciscans working with people living with HIV and AIDS.
The Franciscan family is actively involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS worldwide. Brothers and sisters manage hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other medical centres where people living with HIV and AIDS are treated with dignity and respect. For example, in Boksburg, South Africa and Lome, Togo palliative care is provided for people most in need of assistance. Franciscan sisters are caring for children orphaned because of AIDS-related causes in Ndola, Zambia and Gbagbam, Côte d'Ivoire. In Bangkok, Thailand and New Delhi, India, Franciscan men and women, religious and laity, are reaching out through medical centres and local parish communities to provide care, solace and a spiritual home to those infected with or affected by HIV and AIDS.
Franciscans International joins the EAA's "Keep the Promise" Campaign, remembering the commitments of individuals, religious leaders, faith organisations, governments and intergovernmental organisations to fighting the AIDS pandemic, just as grassroots Franciscans are committed to helping their local communities.
Franciscans International's Africa Desk: HIV and AIDS Response
HIV and AIDS is one of Franciscans International's key priorities in Africa. The Africa Desk programme is organising a series of training sessions over the course of three years, which will each bring together 35 people and will be conducted in West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and Madagascar.
We aim:
- To help strengthen the capacity of members of the Franciscan family, their Protestant and Muslim partners and representatives from local church and NGO communities. In particular, we focus on de-stigmatization and removing discrimination for those living with HIV and AIDS and those affected by the pandemic;
- To establish stronger links between the Franciscan family in Africa and Franciscans International in order to promote the fight against HIV and AIDS:
- To advocate for the provision of funding and access to appropriate and well-monitored antiretroviral and other drugs for adults and children.
Testimony from Côte d'Ivoire
Sr Rosa Nair Carlos, a Franciscan sister of the Immaculate Conception
 "Franciscan sisters of the Immaculate Conception have been in Gbagbam, in the district of Fresco, since 1975. The village is located 60 km from Fresco, and 60 km from Divo, on the Fresco-Divo axis. It's a large village, with about 10,000 inhabitants including camps, which are sprouting up daily. The camps are spread out largely on the three roads leaving town in the directions of Divo, Fresco and Niambezaria, essentially in the 'bush.'
Many malnourished people, children orphaned by AIDS, people infected with HIV, and those living with AIDS have asked us for help. We decided to start taking care of them. A diocesan community health centre opened its doors in May 2003, where Sr Anica and a doctor now work, assisted by a houseboy. As a pharmacist, specializing in medicinal plants, I often counsel women to use local products for their children's better nutrition.
We work with persons living with AIDS who still do not recognize their own illness, and with infected youth who do not understand its implications; we want to help them live up to their potential, to be responsible for changing their behaviour, and so they can testify and have faith in life despite numerous challenges. We create a family setting for orphans, with plenty of affection and attention paid, allowing them to grow up trauma-free and normal - physically, psychologically, and morally."
Resources
- Franciscans International's World AIDS Day webpage: Franciscans International created a special webpage to mark World AIDS Day 2005. We encourage members of the Franciscan family, their ecumenical and inter-faith associates, and all our readers to deepen their knowledge, care and commitment to people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS. Here you will find Franciscan resources, including statements, prayers and testimonies from those engaged directly in the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
- Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) work on HIV and AIDS : The EAA is a faith-based organisation with over 90 sponsoring members. Its mission is focused on advocacy to fight HIV and AIDS and promote just, equitable and sustainable global trade. The EAA provides excellent educational resource materials on HIV and AIDS.
- UNAIDS : UNAIDS is the joint United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS cosponsored by the UN Children's Fund, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, World Food Program, International Labor Organization, World Health Organization, World Bank and other institutions. UNAIDS supplies a comprehensive response to the epidemic to direct global action and activate governments, the private sector, NGOs and individuals.
- OXFAM At OXFAM's site, people living with HIV and AIDS share their struggle and also present the advocacy they are doing at the community level. OXFAM and its partners on the ground confront communities' fear and destabilization through providing resources, training, and education.
- World AIDS Campaign The World AIDS Campaign is most noted for promoting World AIDS Day, but continues work year-round to keep advocacy on HIV and AIDS a high priority.
- Global Fund The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria finances programmes that treat people living with these diseases.
How can I help?
- Learn more about the nature and impact of the epidemic on the physical, social, psychological and spiritual well-being of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) and affected communities;
- Study the facts Get educated on prevention, infection, and treatment;
- Take Franciscans International's AIDS quiz (doc) ;
- Promote respect for all PLWHA . Engage in efforts to end discrimination against or marginalization of PLWHA and those directly affected;
- Wear a red ribbon to show your personal involvement in the fight;
- Urge your political leaders (local and national) to provide additional funding for scientific, prevention education, to support universal access to life-saving drugs and to strengthen efforts to provide palliative care for all;
- Write to your national government and ask them to fulfill and/or increase
funding to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria ;
- Encourage local communities (church-based and other groups), national governments and the international community to engage PLWHA in all efforts focused on prevention and care for those infected with the virus, and for communities affected by the pandemic;
- Educate youth on the Christian compassion for our brothers and sisters touched by HIV and AIDS.
 FI
Statements, at the United Nations, on HIV/AIDS :
Franciscans International, as an NGO with General Consultative
Status with the Economic and Social Council, delivers
official written and oral interventions before United
Nations forums in New York and Geneva, Switzerland. Listed
below are Franciscans International statements on HIV/AIDS:
2006
"A presentation by Rev. Michael A. Perry, OFM to the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS -- Roundtable 1." An oral statement presented at the
2006 High-Level Meeting on AIDS. (2006-05-31)
2005
"Summary Report." A written statement presented at the
Commission on Human Rights (61st Session) 2005. (2005-04-22)
"Agenda Item 6: General debate on national experience in population matters: Population, development and HIV/AIDS, with particular emphasis on poverty." An oral statement presented at the
UN Commission on Population and Development 38th session:. (2005-04-06)
" Agenda Item 3: Population, development and HIV/AIDS with particular emphasis on poverty: Socialization of Children." An oral statement presented at the
13th Session of the Commission for Sustainable Development, On Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements.. (2005-04-06)
"Agenda Item 3(a): HIV/AIDS
(written statement)." A written statement presented at the
Commission for Social Development (43rd Session) 2005. (2005-02-09)
2004
"The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality (HIV/AIDS)." A written statement presented at the
Commission on the Status of Women
, Forty-eighth session. (2004-03-02)
"Support for the WHO's 3x5 Plan to Fight HIV/AIDS." A written statement presented at the
42nd Commission for Social Development. (2004-02-17)
2003
"Item 13: The Rights of the Child (Zambia)." An oral statement presented at the
UN Commission on Human Rights,
Fifty-ninth Session. (2003-04-15)
"Population, Education and Development." An oral statement presented at the
Commission on Population and Development. (2003-04-04)
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FI News on HIV/AIDS:
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