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Name
Hisyam
- Malaysia
Profession
medical practitioner
Question
Hi..
Academically, how does christianity teaching can contribute in the prevention of HIV and AIDs with reference to the bible?
Answer
The teaching of Christianity contributes to the prevention of HIV and AIDS in a number of ways.
Perhaps most importantly, the Bible, especially in the New Testament or the teaching after by Jesus Christ, teaches that marriage is established between one man and one woman and that their intimate or sexual relationship should be lifelong and mutually faithful. If a husband and wife are both not infected with HIV and remain in a mutually faithful intimate relationship then there is not possibility of either partner infecting the other with HIV.
Also the Bible teaches that Christians should be repsectful of the dignity that God has given them as a gift and thus should not engage in practices - including sexual behavior - that will put themselves of others at risk of disease or harm. Thus Christians believe that they should not engage in sexual activity outside the holy covenant of marriage.
Name
Mohamad
-
Profession
Dentist
Question
i am a dentist in the U.S., and I recieve many AIDS patients in my clinics. One of the dental ethics in the U.S. is that I should not tell any body that this patient is HIV positive, even if I need to refer him or her for a specialist..!
Do you think, that this is fair for the other Dr, or I should tell him or her to take his or her extra-precautions ( for infection control).
wa jazakom Allaho khairan.
Answer
I do think that medical confidentiality should be maintained in the case of HIV patients as with other patients. I think this is fair since Universal Precautions should be taken to avoid direct contact with blood or body fluids of ALL patients and if health care workers maintain these precautions, then there is no need to take extra precautions with or to have a specific identification of patients living with HIV. There are many other diseases that could be spread by blood-borne means - thus these precautions are called UNIVERSAL and with HIV patients health care workers are required only to observe these measures.
Name
Kate
-
Profession
Question
Could you please tell me how you implement Christian Doctorine on combating AIDS at Caritas?
Thank you.
Answer
At Caritas, we follow and implement Christian Doctrine in a number of ways:
1) First of all we disseminate the teaching of the Catholic Church and of other Christian faith communities that sexual relationships should be restricted to faithful and liflong marriage between one man and one woman. If both members of that couple and marital relationshiop are not HIV-infected, then there is no question of spreading HIV between them. We also disseminate the teaching of the Catholic Church that those who are not married should abstain from sexual activity.
2) Secondly, Christian doctrine teaches that those who are living with and/or affected by HIV should not be rejected or abandoned but rather that we should have non-judgemental compassion and solidarity with them - thus we care for those so affected by this pandemic and that is another way to combat HIV since stigma and discrimination often lead to hiding behavior that might put one at risk of HIV and thus lead to more dissemination of the virus but non-judgmental care and compassion often helps people living with the virus to change their behavior and thus avoid putting others at risk of HIV infection.
Name
Melissa
-
Profession
Question
Could you please tell me how Caritas supports people living with AIDS, what kind of emotional or economic support is provided? And how do you help them integrate into the community more?
Answer
Caritas organisations in many countries provide a wide range of services to people with HVI and AIDS and to their families and loved ones. These services are developed in accord with the local needs and often include:
1. health care - hosptialisation, in-home services - hospices
2. social support - counselling, HIV testing services,
3. group support - especially among those living with or otherwise affected by
HIV - this in itself helps them to gain confidence and to integrate into society
4. advocacy - defending the rights of those living with or affected by HIV - and fighting stigma and discrimination toward those living with or affected by HIV - this too helps with community integration
5. helping people living with HIV to develop small businesses so that they could enjoy economic self-sufficiency and support their families
6. helping orphans and other survivors of those who have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
Name
tony
-
Profession
Question
Is caritas related to the vatican directly? Do you do missionary work as well?
Answer
Caritas is related to the Vatican - it was first established in Vatican City, has special recognition by the Vatican as an important social development and emergency relief operation sponosred by the Catholic Church, and has close working relationships with many of the Vaticna offices and with Catholic bishops conferences in more than 200 countries of the world.
We do not do direct missionary work. We serve people no matter what their religion might be. We serve people as part of our Catholic identity and belief system - which mandates us to serve as those in need, but most especially the most poor and marginalized - but no necessary to expect that people will change their religions or become Catholics as a result of the service they receive from Caritas.
Name
merna
-
Profession
Question
Hello
Why is it so important that we combat AIDS with religion, what is the significance of this? Why should religious leaders be involved in the first place?
Answer
Religious leaders often have a strong moral influence over people in the community. Thus when religious leaders are sensitive to the issues raised by HIV and AIDS, they can help other believers, those under their spiritual care and teaching to:
- change their behavior which might put themselves or others at risk of spreading or becoming infected with HIV;
- care for those already living with HIV or otherwise affected by HIV in a compassionate, non-judgmental way;
- advocate against stigma and discrimination toward those so affected;
- encourage other leaders in society - business, political, social - to take positive actions in combatting HIV and AIDS
- help those living with the virus or otherwise affected by HIV to understand that God still loves them and will not abandon them and to prepare to deepen their relationship with God as they prepare for death or suffering or further challenges in life.
Name
afaaq
- Pakistan
Profession
student
Question
As-salaam-u-Alikum
My friend removes the tears of his wife by his hand when she is weeding.Can this cause him AIDS?
Answer
For those who are infected with HIV - the virus is present in concentrated and potentially in large quantities in their blood, sexual fluids (of men and women), and in breastmilk. Thus contact with those body fluids should be avoided.
The virus is present only in small quantity in tears, perspiration, urine and other body fluids - and thus contact with these body fluids does not cause high risk for becoming infected with HIV - provided that those body fluids do not also contain blood.
Name
Nancy
-
Profession
Question
What is your opinion of promoting the use of condoms or clean disposable needles as a means of harm reduction?
thank you so much.
Answer
I think the most important ways to educate people to prevent the spread of HIV is to encourage abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage and lifelong fidelity between one man and one woman within marriage. When fidelity is maintained between husband and wife - provided that both partners are not already HIV-infected, then there is no chance to spread the virus.
Also I inform people that they should not inject drugs.
For those who refuse to abide by the above measures - which are both good public health practices as well as in conformity with good religious practice -then they need to know that use of a good quality latex condom with each and throughout each sexual contact could reduce the risk of spreading or becoming infected with HIV - but this is not a 100% guarantee - and that use of new or sterilized injecting equipment could reduce the risk of spreading HIV in this manner.
However, widespread promotion of condom use and clean needles - without a realistic presentation of the potential failure of these means because of poor quality or because of "user" failure - could give a false sense of security and thus contribute to the further spread of the epidemic.
Name
danny
-
Profession
Question
Please tell me how you carry out harm redcution methods?
Answer
Please see my response to the last question.
In the training that I do with Church-related personnel, I encourage them to offer complete and accurate information about all means of HIV prevention - but also to prioritise the teaching of the Catholic Church which promotes:
abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage. And mutual, lifelong fidelity between husband and wife within marriage.
Avoiding injecting drug use (and abuse of alcohol and other drugs that could affect our sound judgment and thus make us more prone to enter into irresponsible sexual behavior or injecting drug use).
Name
haytham
-
Profession
Question
How can we prevent discrimination, people are so afraid of contractig hiv??
Answer
We can prevent discrimination first of all by giving accurate and evidence-based information about HIV and the ways it spreads and the ways it does NOT spread. As you point out, there is much fear and misinformation in the general public and accurate information can serve to dispel that fear.
Secondly, it is important to promote the basic values taught by many of the world's religions - including those of the dignity of each and every human being, the need to accept all our sisters and brothers in the human family, and the need to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalised, including those living with and affected by HIV.
Our religious leaders can do much to model acceptance of those living with or affected by HIV. The late Pope John Paul II often met with and embraced those living with HIV and AIDS when he made his pastoral visits to many countries of the world - this was a strong signal to Catholics and other people of good will that they too did not need to be afraid in interactions with those so affected.
Name
Lila
-
Profession
Question
do you believe that diseases are a punishement for sins?
Answer
I do not believe that diseases are a punishment for sin. There is not teaching in the Christian tradition or doctrine that would support such a belief even though many Christians and other believers may hold such a mistaken belief.
I do not believe that God punishes people with illness, natural disasters or other mishaps - even if such problems may result from out own imprudent or irresponsible actions.
Also, I hold the Christian teaching that God loves us and does not abandon us no matter what problems we may face in our lives and that we can take the trials and tribulations of illness or other problematic behavior and grow and learn from such experiences and thus be able to deepen our relationship with the all-loving God.
Name
Abdulraheem
-
Profession
Question
Please i will like you to advise on marrying somebody who is infected with HIV and if yes what to do to keep the relationship.
Answer
This is a very sensitive and delicate question, and thus it is hard to give a "general" answer to such a question which really has to be approached in the context of the particular relationship between the two people who find themselves in such a situation and are considering the possibility of marriage.
With any man and woman who are considering marriage, they must be honest and open with each other about any sexual relationships that they may have had in the past. In this time of HIV and AIDS they should consider the possibility of voluntary testing for HIV.
If one or other partner is found to be living with HIV, then the couple must consider whether they wish to proceed to marry. If they decide to do so, then they should seek special counseling with their doctor and with their spiritual leaders in order to understand how best to reduce the risk of spreading the infection to the uninfected partner and how best to maintain good physical, emotional, and spritual health in order to face the challenges ahead of them in marriage.
Name
Noor jahan
-
Profession
Paediatrician
Question
Your Grace,
How would you define the catholic church's stance on homosexuality, with ever increasing mumbers of this sexual choice,seeing as other faiths condemn it so srongly.
Answer
The Catholic Church teaches that all sexual activity should be restricted to lifelong and faithful marriage and thus only could be engaged in by husband and wife who are living in such a marriage. Therefore, the Catholic Church teaching does not approve of homosexual activity. Many Catholic Church leaders would recognise that homosexual orientation is not so much a choice of some people but part of their very nature. Thus we need to be understanding and accepting of persons with such orientation and try to help them live their lives as positively as possible but counseling them against engaging in homosexual activity.
The Catholic Church teaching would never condone violence toward or discrimination against people with homosexual orientation.
