The leadership of the World Council of Churches in conjunction with the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) have trained over 20,000 leaders of various churches in Africa on HIV/AIDS issues especially on how to prevent stigmatization and discrimination.
President of Methodist Church in Togo and Chairman of the HIV/AIDS program of the World Council of Churches based in Geneva, Rev. Godson Lawson Kpavuvu, stated this during a 4-day capacity building workshop for students selected from various schools in Ebonyi State.
He expressed worries over the increase in HIV/AIDS transmission especially among school children, youths as well as women in Nigeria.
The workshop had the theme: “HIV prevention action for youths, Sunday school teachers, women and young pastors, to achieve the 3-zero objectives in Bayelsa and Ebonyi.” The workshop took place at the Methodist Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, (TMC) Diocese of Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Kpavuvu further stated that the WCC had facilitated healthcare and counselling to HIV positive/AIDS victims in 53 African countries.
According to him: “From the beginning, the World Council of Churches trained about twenty thousand (20,000) leaders of various churches on HIV/AIDS issues especially on its stigmatization, discrimination, and also counselling on its preventive measures in order to have competent church leaders who can respond to HIV/AIDS issues.
“We realized that at the end of the day, one of the vulnerable populations in the church is the Adolescents and now we are trying to reorganize our training model’s to address more of the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS among the adolescents.
“The world council of churches HIV/AIDS programs have trained people in about 53 African countries. We are also in the Asia continent, Nomadic among other continents of the world.
“We have those who are HIV positive victims and those who are AIDS victims. Many of them have suffered from severe trauma, stigmatization and We are facilitating healthcare and counselling to them through our communication channels,” he stated.
CCN Chairman in Nigeria who was represented by the General Secretary, Rev. Evans Onyemara, said: “We are here in Ebonyi State to reinforce the campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
“People no longer talk about the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the issue of COVID-19 has dominated every other thing, making people to slack on the campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
“The work we are doing in the area of HIV/AIDS is to ensure that we achieve the 3 zero objectives of the United Nations in the area of HIV and AIDS, which are: zero new infections by 2030, zero AIDS-related deaths by 2030, and zero discrimination by 2030.”
Onyemara who is a priest in Methodist Nigeria also said that Nigeria has the highest rate in new infections of HIV and AIDS in Africa.
“Nigeria has the second-largest infection of HIV/AIDS in the world and one of the highest rates of new infections in Africa, and that is why we organized this workshop to train people on how to know their status in HIV/AIDS,” he stated.
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HIV/AIDS stigmatization in Africa | HIV/AIDS stigmatization in Africa
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