Posted on: Thu 29-04-2021

Religious leaders have been told not to discourage their members, who are living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) from taking Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART), in the hope that doing so will compromise their faith.

This was the admonition of participants at the ongoing five-day workshop in Lagos organised by the World Council of Churches in collaboration with the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN).

They noted that poor adherence to treatment by HIV patients has the potential to negatively impact outcome of treatment efforts.

West Africa Regional Co-ordinator, World Council of Churches, Ayoko Bahun-Wilson, who spoke at the event, tagged “Consultation for Religious Leaders on HIV Treatment Adherence,” said the body had shown leadership traits by creating safe spaces for its communities to deepen their knowledge and engender reflections on ART.

She encouraged stakeholders to find ways to increase HIV treatment adherence and address challenges brought by faith leaders, who discourage people living with HIV from utilising ART.

“We can’t change the past, but what we can do is to chart a future guided by our love for those we could not save,” she said.

President, CCN, Most Rev. (Dr.) Benebo Fubara-Manuel, said in recent years, there exists contradictions in Christendom on issue of healing.

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