VeNews March 2007

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Religious Health Assets Key to Fighting AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Religious groups and faith practices must be leveraged to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization asserts in a new study.

The United Nation’s agency drew this conclusion from its study of the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP) in which Vesper Society is a lead partner. The study, “Appreciating Assets,” reveals that faith-based organizations play a much greater role than previously understood in fighting the pandemic and alleviating suffering.

“The religious health assets—church-based hospitals and clinics, congregations, support groups, traditional healers, formal and informal religious networks—all contribute to the health of people in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Mary Olson Baich, president of Vesper Society. “In this context where health is holistically understood, religious networks and faith practices are intimately connected to the health-seeking strategies of individuals and communities. So it’s imperative that we understand this ‘healthworld,’ as we call it, in order to fight AIDS.”

Between 30 to 70 percent of the health infrastructure in Africa is owned by faith-based organizations.  The ARHAP study is the first to use extensive community workshops coupled with GPS (global positioning system) tools to map religious health assets in sub-Saharan Africa, where, at the end of 2005, an estimated 24.5 million lived with HIV/AIDS. The study focused on Zambia and Lesotho, two of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. Adult HIV/AIDS prevalence in Zambia was 17 percent and 23.2 percent in Lesotho at the end of 2005.

“When we identify, leverage and align these assets with public health systems, great progress can be made in the fight against disease,” Baich says.

But government, health and philanthropic leaders seldom understand the extent and potential of the work of religious entities, the study notes. The result is poor alignment of public health programs with the work of religious people and groups.

Vesper Society, WHO, and ARHAP are calling for greater collaboration among ministries of health, health agencies, donors, religious entities and their partners in order to provide universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment by 2010. “Only by engaging faith-based health assets will universal access succeed,” Baich says.

WHO released the study Feb. 8 at a special media event at the Washington National Cathedral. Baich, along with board members Dr. Melvin George, Dr. Laura Mitchell, and Dr. Luther Luedtke, participated in the event. The full study can be read online here.

Vesper Society has been a lead partner in ARHAP since its founding in 2002. The foundation provides funding and technical expertise for ARHAP’s research and development of its organizational structure. Vesper Society also funds an international colloquium to review findings and engage leaders around the appreciation of religious health assets. Baich and board member Eric Reynolds will travel to Cape Town, South Africa, March 13–16 for the third international colloquium.

Along with Vesper Society, ARHAP partners include the University of Cape Town, University of KwaZulu Natal, University of Witwatersrand, the Interfaith Health Program at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, Wheat Ridge Ministries, and Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis. To learn more about ARHAP click here.

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Vesper Society, a private operating foundation, promotes social justice locally and globally by addressing critical social issues including the provision of health services for the underserved.