Church response to HIV/AIDS

The Church response in the early 1980s and 1990s was a lukewarm with lack of concern. It is not a new phenomenon and experience. Many countries with Christians being the majority also faced this situation. As time changes and the need, demand of involvement arises, they also respond to the call of the sick and the needy. The various training, Programs, awareness activities on HIV/AIDS relating to the religious issues, social teachings of the Churches also help in the better facilitation of Church initiatives.

Today, there are many participatory Churches involved in HIV/AIDS activities like awareness campaign, Treatment and home-based care etc. The encouragement and urging from World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, in its book entitled: “Facing AIDS, Challenges, Church Response” is a great springboard for the Christian Missionaries, leaders and workers to equip with the latest religious, medically related issues and others. Their role in home based care in giving counselling, medical care and support, nutrition, social rehabilitation/social security to a certain extent is very important. The magnitude of HIV/AIDS cases in North-east India can be comprehended with the latest September 2006 HIV/AIDS figure of Manipur, 24198 HIV+ cases out of 165747 screened, 3860 AIDS cases, with 15% the highest percentage in NE India and more than 30000 total HIV positive cases in North-East India.

The availability of about 2000 beds (Hospital beds in Manipur) and the non-adequate beds in other NE States has compounded the problem in the health delivery system as the total number of beds will not be sufficient for hospitalization of only AIDS patients e.g. Manipur numbering 3860 in the same period.

Moreover, it is more socially, economically convenient and feasible for rendering home-based care to the HIV patients/cases and other affected people. The experience of Home-Based Care in African countries nay also be taken into account. In the said Africa continent the existing health facilities, infrastructures, hospitals in terms of availability of Hospital beds and other detained patients in health institutions, centres could, not match with the number of HIV infected persons. Moreover, it was not advisable to admit all the HIV/AIDS patients and only few need to be admitted in hospitals, health institutions and the rest may be taken care at their respective homes or community care centres. Pastors, Christian workers are multi-purpose workers in the villages in the field of health, healing, evangelism, social works, education, income generation programmes.

Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS workshop/seminar, sensitization meeting, advocacy meeting for Pastors/Theologians, Church leaders and others in North East India: In connection with drug abuse in Manipur the writer received a letter from a Tangkhul girl studying in Bangalore around 1977-78 when myself was studying MBBS at VSS Medical College, Burla, Sambalpur City, Orissa saying that there were drug addicts in Manipur and among the Tangkhul Naga youth too in Ukhrul district. She further requested to take it as a priority and urgent task lest Manipur State would doom to the bottom. My eyes refused to proceed to the next line in disbelief and reread the specific lines. I was quite surprised to learn such unfortunate and very unexpected information and promised her that I would enquire of it from different pastors, churches/social workers, youths, concerned persons and others to elicit the correct information when I go home.

I went home in December 1979 during my house surgeonship and met cross-section of people including the Christian leaders. They said there were no addicts though there were alcoholics, smokers, pan eaters, khaini/tobacco chewers though medically they also belong to drug abuse/addictions. Further they were not aware that there were student addicts from Manipur studying outside the State in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune etc. I wrote back to her to assure that the communities in Manipur were more or less free from drug dependance and other chem-ical dependent substances like injecting No. 4, Morphine etc. Though there might be information of drug addiction among the students of Manipur stu-dying in other States/cities such were stray cases of addiction.

The writer on joining his service in 1980 started the preparatory stage, drug abuse, survey/assessment with support from Mr L Luithui, International Human Rights acti-vities now a citizen of Ca-nada; M Hongray, Human Rights activist and Supre-me Court lawyer Delhi; Prof (Miss) Chonmila Lun-gleng, Church leaders, Christian Fathers, NGOs, etc. The response from them especially from the Christian leaders was that it was more or less the work of the Government, the police department, the medical department, excise department, BSF and other law enforcing agencies dealing with drugs, liquor, ganja, hashish, injection No. 4 powder policing force, youth policing force, etc. It was less to do with spiritual development though most of them supported legal prohibition of manufacture of liquor, selling/bootlegging of liquor, ganja peddlers, No. 4 powder peddlers and other drug dependant substanc-es. The four mentioned persons strongly pleaded and urged that it was a social health problem and neglecting this will lead to emergence of social diseases affecting all sections of the people.

The drug abuse started raising its ugly head from 1980 in Manipur and later in other North East States and in the aftermath of its encroachment in the society especially among the youths, there were cases of snatching away of gold earrings from the children and there had been instances of killing children too. The underground organisations also started targeting the addicts as a means of correction and prevention of addiction among the people of Manipur. In January 2007 there were several addicts being shot by the UGs in the leg and even to the extent of killing the addicts. Controversy over Christian funeral service to the shot dead addicts also arose. The situation was such that people from all walks of life had to put their heads together and intervene on these urgent social diseases.

A series of drug abuse seminar, workshop later HIV/AIDS seminars, workshops, advocacy meetings, sensitization meeting for NGOs, Pastors, Christian leaders and workers, youth societies, youth club, women organisation and other were organised. And the 1985 International year of the Youth with many seminars, workshops particularly by Pastors, church leaders, community leaders, youth, etc was a real year of awakening mostly centering on drug abuse and youth. Though HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in 1981 and USA, 1986 in India, Manipur had its HIV+ cases only in 1990 (961 total cases) which were the first cases in the North Eastern States. The Pastors, Church leaders' response and others' participation in drug abuse and prohibition of liquor was increasing but not to the expected level.

In 1987 one week workshop on Education Development Programme Series for North East India was held at Ashoka Hotel, Imphal with the participation of several scholars, educationists, pastors, theologians, church leaders, social workers, community leaders and others from all over India numbering around 80. This touched on all important/ relevant urgent problems in the North East India - Drug Abuse, insurgency, educational problems, socio-economic problems and development aspects of the region. Prohibition was a hotly/lively debated topic. Many of the Christian leaders were of the opinion that 'Be good Christians, be good people'.

'No good Christians, no good people' indulge in drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking, other social evils and immoral sexual activities leading to HIV/AIDS and other STDs. It is easier said than done. One needs to understand the pathology of addiction and its dependence nature and the behavioural related disease of HIV with sexuality. Today when one asks any addict whether he/she wants to give up addiction/free from drug abuse, free from HIV/AIDS cent percent will reply in the affirmative response yet hardly 15% can recover from Drug abuse problem because of its dependence nature and 80% of HIV/AIDS is caused by sexual route transmission. Yet the percentage of sexual route transmission which is personal behavioural related infection is still 80% from 1981, the year of diagnosis till date.

The workshop was followed up in 1988 in Shillong with about 60 participants. Prominent among them were Fr Cilia, Pastor, Don Bosco Youth Centre, Shillong and a renown national youth animator, Dr TA Shishak, then Principal, Patkai Christian College, (now Deemed University), Chumukedima, Nagaland and many theologians and Church leaders from Mizoram, Social Workers, educationists, medical doctor (the writer happened to be the only medical doctor participant), lawyers and others. There was a lively hot debate and discussion. Whether to be lenient, to show concern and care to the drug addicts, alcoholics, liquor sellers/ peddlers, peddlers for Ganja and No 4 etc. Many of the pastors/ theologians especially from Mizoram strongly expressed that addicts did not deserve leniency, love, concern and care and should not be pampered so that the addicts did not take advantage of the people. They needed to be dealt strictly according to the situation, circumstances lest the degree of crimes would increase. The participants though agreed in principle to have sympathy, empathy, love, concern and care of the affected/infected persons referring them as 'prodigal son' in the Bible however many of them were wary that such soft corner attitude, practice may not bear fruit for their corrections in the long run. It is true the addicts, alcoholics, peddlers continued their addiction behavioural activities, illegal activities of sale of liquor, ganja hashist, No 4 etc inspite of giving them a lot of moral and social support and counselling services, treatment etc.

The same was followed up in Delhi in 1990 sponsored by the Institute of Spreading Christian Knowledge (ISPCK), Delhi. With the detection of HIV+ cases in Manipur in 1990 first in the North Eastern States and more than 80% of the HIV+ cases being detected belonged to IOUs/addicts there was a lot of interest on discussion relating to drug addiction, addicts, IDUs and HIV/AIDS. These detected cases were the first in the North Eastern States. There were suggestions, views, remedial measures for follow-up with the support of medical service, social support, community support, Church support and Govt and NGOs/ agencies support. Later several workshops/seminars/ awareness meetings, advocacy sensitisation meetings on Drug Abuse, liquor prohibition were organised by Manipur Baptist Convention, Imphal, Archdiocese of Imphal under Diocesan Social Service Society (DSSS), Manipur AIDS Control Society, District AIDS Committees of Hill Districts, Manipur in particular. In Ukhrul district in 1994, All Tangkhul Pastors, Christian leaders workshop on HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse was organised by Science and Technology Centre for Community Development (STCCD), Ukhrul sponsored by CEBEMO, Holland.

The Tangkhul Baptist Long, the TBCA- Tangkhul Baptist Churches Association, TNBC - Tangkhul Naga Baptist Convention, TCC- Tangkhul Catholic Council and others have organised many such awareness meetings, seminars, advocacy meetings/ and trainings. In 2001, when UNAIDS team lead by Mr Sashi Manon and his Colleagues came to Ukhrul the writer accompanied them and met many Tangkhul NGOs like the Tangkhul Naga Long, the apex social organisation of the Tangkhuls. The said UNAIDS team also met the then TBL Executive Secretary, Dr W Konghar and his colleagues at Mission Banglo, Ukhrul. When the UNAIDS team mentioned of condom promotion, encouragement and support from the churches, Christian communities, Dr W Konghar and others immediately shot back with the reply, 'Please no condom promotion, no anti-Christian activity, etc'.

The UNAIDS team said that they had high respect for Christian religion and were in no way antagonising the Christian views, Christian teachings and practices. However, they would also like to take into account and request them to digest the medical health aspects in prevention of HIV/AIDS in sexual transmission. The writer shared that the blanket condom promotion would not religiously motivate the Christians as it was unacceptable and went against the Christian doctrines and Christian ethics. Such blanket condom promotion would sent wrong message of sexual promiscuity among the unmarried persons. However, there were acceptable conditions where condom could be used. For example HIV/AIDS partners one partner infected, the other uninfected so as to reduce degree of HIV ineffectivity and prevent unwanted pregnancy. Condom promotion to the unmarried persons is strictly against the Christian teaching - sex before marriage and outside marriage is unbiblical and sacrilege in marriage sacrament. Though no one can deny the fact that promiscuity, sex permissiveness, sex outside marriage occur among the Christian too.

In 2004 May, Miss Fuller, Research Health Scholar, Australian University and Dr B Langkham, AVAHAN- Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, USA had a meeting with some NGOs and Church leaders/ Pastors at Ukhrul at ESRC office. It was interesting to know that the Church leaders, social workers, community leaders, NGOs showed interest and the need to involve the Church leaders, social workers in a greater degree of level of awareness, advocacy, sens- itization activities, trai- nings and workshops so that these would sensitize, motivate them for positive attitude and practical involvement in HIV/AIDS drug abuse prevention, management and control activities. They were happy to know the Churches involvement to a certain extend. Mr Fuller was quite concerned of the 40% HIV sero-positivity rate of Ukhrul district, the highest in Manipur and India and it could be compared with that of African countries. We may recollect that Ukhrul district has been having the highest sero-positivity rate in Manipur since 1998 till January 2007. She remarked 'Dr Felix, you have been involving on these two social health problems, social disease for a long time and you are quite aware of this situation. You may be sentimentally hurt if I say that if you don't take the proper remedial measures to prevent, control and manage these problems in time there will be another Africa in Ukhrul district after 5 to 10 years'. Whether we like it or not it is going to be the forecast/ foretold situation in Ukhrul district and other districts in Manipur.

Ms Sujatha Rao, IAS, DG, National AIDS Control Organisation - NACO, Delhi in her meeting with Dr ASK Felix, Specialist PH, Member Secretary, DAC Ukhrul, Mr C Leisan, Co-ordinator Care Organisation and Mr Philazan Coordinator, SOAR-EHA, Ukhrul on behalf of the Tangkhul NGOs and MACS Officers on 9-11-2006 at Imphal stressed the need for greater involvement of the Pastors, the Theologians, community leaders, Church leaders, social workers, NGOs and others and agreed that Church fora were perhaps the best platforms for spread of HIV/AIDS, Drug abuse messages among the faithful.

She even mentioned that in Nagaland many theologians were appointed as counsellors on HIV/AIDS programmes especially for counselling service and this could be done in Manipur too with the appointment of local theologians, pastors, Church leaders as HIV/AIDS Counsellors for HIV/AIDS Counselling services. Indeed! Church can play a great role in the fight against HIV/AIDS and drug abuse with imparting awareness, advocacy, sensitisation meetings, training workshops supported by MACS, Imphal, District AIDS Committee, NGOs and other funding agencies to the Christian communities - pastors, Church leaders, youth, women and others. Such activities are being carried out in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and to some extent in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Tripura. The involvement of Churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS, drug abuse will usher an era of awakening and reformation not only in religious aspect but also in social, economy, health and educational prosperity which is the widow to the world of modern science - health is wealth and unhealthy person becomes a liability and parasite to the family and to the society and to the communities and the State as a whole.

Today social security which is the holistic approach of awareness, advocacy meeting, training, workshop to the Church leaders, community leaders, NGO leaders, to the all concerned Departments - Medical Department, Social Welfare Department, Education Department, law enforcing agencies/Departments in respect of awareness services, prevention and control, treatment services to the infected/ affected persons, nutrition and social support in terms of food, housing, schooling to the orphan children widows/ widowers can only be achieved with the medical, social, religious, educational and other supports with involvement of people from all walks of life. Let us all join the long run battle of mankind to defeat the two deadly social disease which are playing havoc with the life of millions of mankind.

Read Part I