F ighting stigma and discriminationc

F ighting stigma and discrimination
against vulnerable groups and
people living with HIV, and ensuring their
inclusive participation in all aspects of
the response is key to turning around
the epidemic. UNAIDS welcomes the
World Council of Churches (WCC)
statement that “stigma and discrimination
of people living with HIV is a sin and
against the will of God ”. If this statement
is put into practice, churches would be
helping immensely in efforts to eradicate
the unjust exclusion of people living with
HIV from day-to-day life.
Churches can be and in many cases
already are forceful actors in the fieldof HIV prevention. While UNAIDS
is already collaborating with faithbased
organizations worldwide and
has extensive collaboration with the
WCC and individual churches, it seeks
to broaden this partnership in the
coming years. While recognizing that
on some issues we differ, we have a
common understanding of the need to
both promote abstinence and
faithfulness and help people to identify
situations of risk and take steps to
protect themselves from HIV when
these occur.
Churches must become the trusted
source for accurate information to
members about human sexuality. Such
knowledge is required to understand
HIV and how to prevent HIV transmission.
We are inspired by the many churches
who work with marginalized populations
such as drug users and sex workers,
and young people as valuable partners
in addressing issues of risk and
vulnerability, providing education, and
often have a sound knowledge of how
to work with these groups.