Religious bodies in the country comprising the Christian and Muslim denominations have come together to form a network to help fight against HIV/AIDS.
The group, Sierra Leone Inter-Religious AIDS Network (SLIRAN), was formedduring a colourful ceremony held on Tuesday January 17 at the Presidential Lounge, National Stadium in Freetown with the support of the National HIV/AIDS Commission (NAC) and UNFPA in collaboration with the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone.
The theme for the occasion was: "Getting to Zero New HIV Infection by 2015". In his keynote address, Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs Minister, Steven Ngaoja, described the launching of SLIRAN as timely, noting that "it would help to save the lives of HIV patients as they would use their religious podiums to send the message".
He said the two denominations, Christianity and Islam, are well respected, adding that the occasion was a perfect forum to tailor the dissemination of behaviour change messages on HIV/AIDS prevention.
"The intervention of faith-based organizations is recognized by my ministry... they should take the message to their congregations," the minister urged, adding that they (faith-based organizations) are key to multi-sectoral and multi-partner response in working to achieve zero new infection, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
The minister noted that people are affected with HIV/AIDS in one way or the other, and that the launch of the network would give a boost to the overall campaign towards the initiative.
"Religious leaders should come to terms that people living with AIDS should be embraced," he said adding that HIV stigma still exits. "SLIRAN should know that people affected with AIDS could be male, female, black, white and it is not against age limit." He said that his ministry would continue to give their fullest support to the initiative.
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SOURCE: Concord Times (Freetown)
Regina Pratt
