Church leaders at this month’s Pacific Conference of Churches meeting were called on to help deal with the issue of HIV and AIDS in the Pacific, with a focus on family and discouraging “outdated” cultural norms. Alex Perrottet reports.
Church leaders must face the facts about HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and drop long-held prejudices about those living with the virus, says a regional advocate.
Steven Vete of UNAIDS said prejudice and discrimination prevent access to treatment for those most in need.
Vete, who is also sub-regional coordinator of the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS, was speaking sternly at the recent Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) annual meeting in Auckland.
Also speaking at the conference, Reverend James Bhagwan from the Methodist Church of Fiji, said: “There are two major issues that have characterised the approach to HIV and AIDS so far – ignorance and stigma.”
Vete said the root of the issue of discrimination was ignorance of the type of people at risk.
“While people talk about the traffic of people, the sex workers and the marginalised, it is faithful and serving wives that suffer from this virus because of their philandering husbands,” he said.
“Traditions that help create these situations should be absolutely not tolerated. I am talking about having multiple wives, issues with the status of women, violence against women and children.”
The Auckland Declaration from the Pacific Regional Consultation on HIV and the Law, Ethics and Human Rights was a commitment from a meeting of 15 Pacific nations in 2007. It notes that “stigma and discrimination … impedes universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support and provision of services.
“Without realistically addressing HIV through behaviour change, legislative and policy frameworks, and rights-based approaches, all our social, political and economic development efforts could be significantly slowed or reversed.”
Practical work needed
While the PCC and other bodies are trying to work towards the UN Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the spread of the virus by 2015, Vete believes more practical work needs to be done.
“There is a raft of declarations around the world that people think is going to save them but it hasn’t,” he said.
A December 2009 Report of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific says there were 59,000 people living with AIDS in Oceania in 2008. Oceania had 0.3 percent of adult prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which was one of the lowest rates in the world.
However, Papua New Guinea is by far the worst, with 95 percent of the cases of infection in Oceania between 1984 and 2007. In fact, even in the Papua province of Indonesia, HIV prevalence is 15 times higher than the national average.
Outside Papua New Guinea, the countries of New Caledonia, Fiji, French Polynesia and Guam account for the vast majority of HIV infections.
The report mentions, among other causes, that “limited employment opportunities in most Pacific countries result in high rates of internal and external mobility.”
The report also found that “increased movement to urban centres has been linked to increased crime, drug and alcohol abuse, overcrowding, higher unemployment, increased teenage pregnancy, STIs, gender-based violence and sex work.”
Youth issue
Findings from the report suggest that HIV/AIDS is a serious issue for the youth, particularly with drugs, alcohol and multiple partners. 40 percent of people in the Pacific are under the age of 15.
The report said that “around a third of all young people used alcohol and drugs before their last sexual encounter” and “in a survey of young people in two communities in Port Moresby alcohol use was linked to forced sex with over 40 percent of young men and young women reporting that they had been forced to have sex.”
Surveys in several Pacific nations indicate that a substantial minority of young people become sexually active before the age of 18, with roughly 40 percent of young people in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu reporting more than one sexual partner.
The church leaders are concerned that caution be taken to avoid the spread.
Fe’iloakitau Tevi, the general secretary of PCC, said that “If there is one issue that is the responsibility of the church, it is the issue of HIV/AIDS.
“In some of our countries, perhaps there are no cases, or maybe one case. However, this does not make it any less of an issue.”
Vete believes the churches have a particular influence on communities and “has the best interests of the Pacific people.”
“The Parliament have the mandate of the people but you have the values to inculcate in the people,” Vete said.
Starts in the family
Dr Nuualofa Potoi, Director of Preventative Health Services in Samoa, told the conference that more should be done to encourage education of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and that the family was crucial as a starting point.
“It must start within your own family. It is the responsibility of each and every parent,” said Dr Potoi.
“I believe that it is my basic responsibility as a mother and as a parent to teach my children.”
Rev Bhagwan said that “for Pacific Islanders, family is everything. Our life continues through our children.”
Rev Bhagwan had practical advice for parents, saying some were getting distracted from their main task of looking after their children, suggesting parents “keep the family together, for example, not leaving the kids at home alone all night while going off to church functions.”
The relative success of some Pacific communities has been partly credited to positive relations between the churches and the government.
Shelton Neth, chairman and CEO of churches in the Federated States of Micronesia, belongs to the United Church of Christ, the biggest Christian Church in Micronesia.
Hand in hand
Neth reports that his church and the government are “working hand in hand to prevent the spread of AIDS”.
“The Church leaders made a resolution, which was sent to the government, that any outsider coming into FSM should be tested for HIV.”
Rev Bhagwan said these relationships were cutting through bureaucracy, saving the PCC from engaging with the Pacific Islands Forum.
“Rather than engage with the Forum, we engage directly with the leaders of nations themselves.” he said.
“For example, Reverend Tofinga Falani, president of the Ekalesia Kelisiano in Tuvalu, will speak directly to the President of Tuvalu.”
Aisake Casimira is programmes coordinator of PCC and works with the Catholic Church in Fiji. In practical terms, Casimira is calling for more to be done.
“This is a social problem” said Casimira. “And it goes hand in hand with other social problems such as unemployment. If people are unemployed and not doing anything, there is no chance to channel their energies.
“On one hand, it is good to talk and preach about responsible behaviour. But on the other hand, the church and the government have the opportunity to improve employment and solve other social issues so that the sexual urge is channelled to more productive ends.”
Apart from the social issues such as unemployment, Casimira believes that church leadership needs to look at education.
Wide choices
“There are a wide range of choices for young people, some good and some not so good. The question is how do you educate the young people to make good choices? The capacity that is lacking in our church is that – how to help the young people make good choices.”
Casimira said the church recently announced the Year of the Family and that adult education would be looked at as a way to filter good values to the young through the family unit.
Bhagwan had his own addition to the well-known ABC method of education about HIV/AIDS (Abstinence, Be Faithful, and Contraception).
“Of course there is the promotion of the ABC system that many other groups have promoted, with a special emphasis on Abstinence and Be faithful – get to know your partner and so on.” he said.
“But we add a ‘D’ – Do other stuff! Enjoy life, but don’t rush into sexual relationships.”
For its part, the PCC issued a declaration, “The Cry to Sing the Lord’s Song in Oceania” at the close of their conference.
The declaration stated the leaders’ intention to “commit ourselves to equipping our ministers to engage meaningfully and practically with this issue.”
They also committed to taking better care of those living with HIV/AIDS and to combat ignorant attitudes.
Alex Perrottet is a Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.
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