Given that over 70 percent of the population subscribes to Christian beliefs and over 20 percent to the Islamic faith, with the rest belonging to other religions, the teachings of religious leaders and organizations are immensely influential.

Such teachings made communities believe that AIDS only affect the immoral. They also contributed to widespread misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, with some people perceiving it to be a curse or bewitchment.

But as the disease began to decimate their faithful and at the same time turn into a key hurdle for the country’s socio-economic development, church leaders in the country awoke from their slumber and changed their attitude.

Such was the case that Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Nairobi issued an apology for inaction and wrong actions by African religious leaders in the fight against AIDS. This was during an international forum of the African Network of Religious Leaders Living With or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS (ANERELA), convened in Nairobi in the middle of this year.

“We want to apologize for not doing what we should have done and for doing what we should not have done. We need to wake up to meet the needs and challenges of the pandemic,” pointed out Nzimbi.

He added that faith groups had not adequately assisted people living with AIDS, leaving them helpless, isolated, and hopeless.

With countrywide outreach, churches and other religious organizations play a major role in supplementing the governments’ health care services alongside non-governmental organizations. Thus, they are a major partner in the governments’ efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS.

Archbishop Nzimbi said that religious leaders urge governments’ to make life-prolonging drugs affordable, implement policies that recognize persons living with AIDS, and invest in other programs aimed at fighting the disease.

Addressing participants during the marking of World AIDS Day in Nairobi recently, Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a’Anzeki, whose church is the largest Christian denomination in the country, said that 26.7 percent of health care institutions offering health care services to people living with HIV/AIDS are owned by his church.

The Archbishop emphasized that AIDS is real and not bewitchment as some might purport, stating that his church was doing everything possible to fight it. “I call upon all religious leaders to come together as a community of believers and do something to complement the efforts of the government in fighting HIV/AIDS,” he said.

The Catholic Church plays an important role in responding to the challenges of HIV/AIDS. It has developed a well-organized network in its 26 dioceses countrywide and works through organizations such as Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to educate and mobilize its members to support those affected by the disease.

According to Cavin Otieno of the church’s Commission for Health and Family Life HIV/AIDS project, based at the Kenya Catholic Secretariat in Nairobi, their activities are aimed at giving hope, peace, and love to those infected or affected by the disease.

He said that the church advocates behavior change, premarital chastity among youth, and fidelity among married couples.

In collaboration with the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) and UNICEF, the church intends to establish a microfinance program that will provide women suffering from HIV/AIDS within all its parishes with money to start business ventures.

Currently the church provides home-based care and antiretroviral treatment to the sick through its 41 hospitals and 94 dispensaries countrywide, and has established several centers for children orphaned by AIDS. In regards to educating the youth about the HIV/AIDS scourge, it has developed materials which are disseminated to the youth in schools and churches.

A Different Approach

Although the Catholic Church works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the NACC, whose slogan for prevention of HIV/AIDS is observing the "ABC" rule (abstaining, being faithful to one’s partner, and using condoms), the church is strongly opposed to the use of condoms.

According to a communiqué from Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued last year, condoms are not the solution because “they go against human dignity: they change the beautiful act of love into a grabbing for pleasure, without accepting responsibility and thus go against the way in which God has created us.”

In the communiqué, the bishops stated that HIV/AIDS is not a shameful disease because it can be contracted in a variety of ways other than sexual promiscuity. They also added that the disease is not a punishment from God, and that people should not judge or condemn others, but should rather counsel, pray for them, and give them hope and love so that their lives can be fruitful. “God does not reject his people, he is full of tenderness, and always ready to pardon repentant sinners,” stated the communiqué.

Other churches too have their views and programs for fighting the disease. Archbishop Dr. John Ongachi of the World Undenominational Apostolic Church, a church with adherents countrywide, said that their approach in fighting HIV/AIDS is multifaceted.

They are involved in poverty eradication programs and the provision of food and clean water in areas where water is scarce, as well as primary health care, donation of drugs, improvement of access to contraceptives, and counseling services to those infected with or affected by the disease. “These people do not need prayers alone, they also require assistance to meet their daily basic needs,” said Ongachi.

Ongachi said that according to the Bible, God is the One Who heals the sick and that disease afflicts those who do not heed His commandments and fail to keep His precepts.

The Quakers (The Religious Society of Friends) have established an HIV/AIDS prevention project that has been running for four years in their dioceses. According to Jethro Lusimba, the project’s coordinator, they were initially involved in creating awareness among their members. “We selected some of our members and equipped them with information on HIV/AIDS so that they could train others.” This, he said was aimed at demystifying AIDS, which he said was a disease like any other.

The second step involved identifying people living with AIDS among the communities they deal with. In this case he notes, patients were selected irrespective of their religious affiliation.

After people living with HIV/AIDS were selected, the church started offering them support and care, which was also extended to their families.

Counseling services, food, and medicines for curing opportunistic infections were also given.

Other forms of support given include paying school fees for the children of the infected people and empowering communities through the establishment of income- generating activities by extending soft loans for those who are able to run micro-enterprises. For those who are too ill to complete repayment, their loans are written off.

The church also pays for the funeral expenses of the dead and at the same time runs feeding centers for orphans. Orphans are also involved in activities, such as sports, to keep them busy and thus away from immoral behavior.

Lusimba said that the money used to run all their activities is donated by church members although they receive some funding from the National AIDS Control Council. Another important aspect of the church’s war on HIV/AIDS is the running of clinics that are staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses from among its members.

Lusimba, however, stressed that fidelity among married couples is paramount, and for unmarried couples, abstinence should be strictly observed. “We do not encourage use of condoms as that will contradict our teachings,” he said.

Lusimba believes that the silence surrounding AIDS contributes to stigmatization. Thus the church encourages its pastors to talk openly about the disease to create awareness. “As we advocate for respect of human dignity, compassion, mercy, and support in our church, we must address the cause of the AIDS scourge,” said Lusimba.

“Why go to the hospital to pray for a child who has been born, why pray for it when it falls sick and yet you cannot talk about the cause of its death in your sermons?” said Lusimba.

He concluded that since the inception of their HIV/AIDS project, significant strides have been achieved in bringing about behavior changes among the youth in their church.

Likewise, the Baptist Church activities in tackling HIV/AIDS revolve around inculcating religious values and the development of strategies to address stigmatization in the community.

Emphasis is placed on developing values of love, compassion, care, understanding, and inclusiveness. The church also addresses gender inequality and the role of nutrition in the war against HIV/AIDS.

Reverend Amos Mumu, a Nairobi-based clergy member of the church, said that apart from spiritual nourishment, the church should offer care and love, as well as counseling to the sick because people suffering from HIV/AIDS are most often trapped in a state of emptiness and hopelessness.

He said that his church has started a program dubbed Nutrition, Prevention, and Care in conjunction with the NACC. “We are emphasizing good nutrition by offering tips on proper diets, as they are good for the sick and orphans.”

Regarding the spreading of awareness, Mumu said that the youth are the major target group. “We endeavor to reach out to many young people especially those in secondary schools and particularly the girls.”

Emphasis, he said, is placed on girls because prevalence rates indicate that they are more affected by HIV/AIDS than boys.

Mumu blamed the fast spread of HIV/AIDS among the youth on immorality, which has been fueled by poverty and the liberal press. He said that his church counsels the youth about the need to abstain and avoid premarital sex under the slogan “true love waits.” “Our slogan is a substitute to condom usage which we prohibit,” affirmed Mumu.

He stressed that parents need to talk openly with their children about HIV/AIDS and other sex education issues, instead of leaving them to learn from their peers.

Unlike the Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Revival Church, a protestant denomination, advocates the use of condoms to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Nabert Juma, a Nairobi-based church HIV/AIDS project coordinator, said that after realizing the disease was taking a heavy toll on its members, the church initiated a program that encompassed all methods of preventing the disease’s spread.

The project offers home-based care to the sick as well as voluntary testing and counseling. “Our program has contributed to a decline in number of deaths among our members and currently there is openness as far as discussing matters related to the disease is concerned,” said Juma.

As the church battles out HIV/AIDS, factors that continue to pose challenges to the struggle are stigmatization, which affects home-based care; socio-cultural issues such as widow inheritance; and poverty that leads young girls and some adult women to engage in commercial sex.

Indeed, the United Nations resident coordinator in Kenya, Paul Andre de la Porte, pointed out recently during this year’s World AIDS Day that the United Nations’ concern is that there is little evidence of progress in addressing deep-rooted gender inequalities that fuel the spread of the epidemic in Kenya.