BANGKOK (CNS): AIDS represents “the greatest threat to Africa since the slave trade”, according to the head of a network of Church-sponsored prevention and treatment programs in Africa.
Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, who is co-ordinator of the African Jesuit AIDS Network, based in Nairobi, Kenya, said poverty “is both a cause and a consequence of HIV and AIDS”.
The priest was a delegate to the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this month.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by the AIDS pandemic. With just 10 per cent of the world’s population, the region has more than 65 per cent of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases, according to a report issued on July 6 by the United Nations.
Fr Czerny said Churches throughout Africa are “responding creatively and energetically” to the challenge of HIV/AIDS, even though Church leaders at times have lagged behind.
Uganda is often cited as a success story in reducing the infection rate of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The lack of basic information about AIDS and how it is spread and prevented remains a root cause of the pandemic, the priest said.
Fr Czerny said he and other activists in Africa are increasing their advocacy for lower cost AIDS drugs.
