abigya
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The people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS needs our prayer, please read the below article
By Rachel Lewis
Wednesday January 4, 2006
Pastors in Nigeria are causing huge problems by claiming to cure HIV sufferers;
Some HIV-positive churchgoers are suffering at the hands of their pastors who, in order to attract more worshippers - and consequently make more money at the offertory - claim they can cure their congregations of HIV.
These church leaders instruct worshippers to pray to receive their blessing. Believers are told they will be exhibiting a lack of faith if they continue with their antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) or if they take a HIV test to confirm the healing. This leads to disaster for many.
"People are desperate to believe they have been healed of HIV and they don't question what the religious leaders say, they simply trust them," says Reverend Noel Bewarang, a priest in the Anglican diocese of Jos, whose organisation, the Gospel Health and Development Services (GHADS), has been at the forefront of HIV prevention education.
The phenomenon is cutting across all social classes. Moses Garba Dashe, a senior civil servant, recently believed he had been healed and stopped taking his ARVs. He soon became sick. While he was off his medication, which is supposed to be taken for life, the HIV strain that has infected him became resistant to his former drugs regime.
"A reverend from the Church of Christ came to my house. He prayed with me, told me I had been healed and said I would need to pay 60,000 naira (£269) for a herbal remedy," says Mr Dashe. "They did the same for my daughter and she became paralysed, fell unconscious and died in February last year."
The government recognises there is a problem and has banned TV adverts which proclaim miracle cures, but some churches still advertise with leaflets and in the press.
There is little backlash from friends or family when a person gets sick or dies after quitting ARVs. Instead the person is blamed for having a lack of faith. The churches insist it has nothing to do with them or the pastor because, after all, others have been healed.
But Rev Bewarang is fighting back. "I head up a Bible-believing church and while I believe that miracles are possible, I believe God heals for his own purposes and they are not dependent on the individual. Even when he was on earth, Jesus healed some and left others. God gave us hospitals and doctors and I think we should use them."
According to healthcare experts, stigma is the greatest barrier to effective HIV prevention and care in Nigeria and across Africa - and many churches, they argue, are instrumental in fuelling discrimination.
"Clergymen are compounding the problem," says Mr Dashe. "Reverend Bewarang helped me, but many clergy condemn the people who are suffering. Because of the stigma surrounding HIV, some people living with HIV seek support from religious institutions, rather than hospitals, hoping for a sympathetic and accepting reception."
Mr Dashe adds that it is too easy to condemn such people for their gullibility. "If you reach out to a drowning man with a knife, he will grab hold of it," he says.
Rachel Baggaley, head of Christian Aid's HIV unit, says churches have a huge responsibility to help tackle the culture of shame surrounding HIV.
"Religious leaders have an enormous potential to play a role in HIV prevention and care in Nigeria, but they can also do a great deal of harm, exacerbating the stigma and denial of HIV in their communities and creating an environment whereby HIV is more easily spread," she says.
"But faith leaders can also do an awful lot of good. Groups such as the Nigerian Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV are challenging harmful attitudes associated with HIV and promoting the inclusion of people living with HIV - and there are four million such people in Nigeria. Every day, 1,000 Nigerians contract HIV and 800 die of it.
Rachel Lewis
Journalist with Christian Aid
By Rachel Lewis
Wednesday January 4, 2006
Pastors in Nigeria are causing huge problems by claiming to cure HIV sufferers;
Some HIV-positive churchgoers are suffering at the hands of their pastors who, in order to attract more worshippers - and consequently make more money at the offertory - claim they can cure their congregations of HIV.
These church leaders instruct worshippers to pray to receive their blessing. Believers are told they will be exhibiting a lack of faith if they continue with their antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) or if they take a HIV test to confirm the healing. This leads to disaster for many.
"People are desperate to believe they have been healed of HIV and they don't question what the religious leaders say, they simply trust them," says Reverend Noel Bewarang, a priest in the Anglican diocese of Jos, whose organisation, the Gospel Health and Development Services (GHADS), has been at the forefront of HIV prevention education.
The phenomenon is cutting across all social classes. Moses Garba Dashe, a senior civil servant, recently believed he had been healed and stopped taking his ARVs. He soon became sick. While he was off his medication, which is supposed to be taken for life, the HIV strain that has infected him became resistant to his former drugs regime.
"A reverend from the Church of Christ came to my house. He prayed with me, told me I had been healed and said I would need to pay 60,000 naira (£269) for a herbal remedy," says Mr Dashe. "They did the same for my daughter and she became paralysed, fell unconscious and died in February last year."
The government recognises there is a problem and has banned TV adverts which proclaim miracle cures, but some churches still advertise with leaflets and in the press.
There is little backlash from friends or family when a person gets sick or dies after quitting ARVs. Instead the person is blamed for having a lack of faith. The churches insist it has nothing to do with them or the pastor because, after all, others have been healed.
But Rev Bewarang is fighting back. "I head up a Bible-believing church and while I believe that miracles are possible, I believe God heals for his own purposes and they are not dependent on the individual. Even when he was on earth, Jesus healed some and left others. God gave us hospitals and doctors and I think we should use them."
According to healthcare experts, stigma is the greatest barrier to effective HIV prevention and care in Nigeria and across Africa - and many churches, they argue, are instrumental in fuelling discrimination.
"Clergymen are compounding the problem," says Mr Dashe. "Reverend Bewarang helped me, but many clergy condemn the people who are suffering. Because of the stigma surrounding HIV, some people living with HIV seek support from religious institutions, rather than hospitals, hoping for a sympathetic and accepting reception."
Mr Dashe adds that it is too easy to condemn such people for their gullibility. "If you reach out to a drowning man with a knife, he will grab hold of it," he says.
Rachel Baggaley, head of Christian Aid's HIV unit, says churches have a huge responsibility to help tackle the culture of shame surrounding HIV.
"Religious leaders have an enormous potential to play a role in HIV prevention and care in Nigeria, but they can also do a great deal of harm, exacerbating the stigma and denial of HIV in their communities and creating an environment whereby HIV is more easily spread," she says.
"But faith leaders can also do an awful lot of good. Groups such as the Nigerian Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV are challenging harmful attitudes associated with HIV and promoting the inclusion of people living with HIV - and there are four million such people in Nigeria. Every day, 1,000 Nigerians contract HIV and 800 die of it.
Rachel Lewis
Journalist with Christian Aid
