SEPTEMBER 2005 – In 1998, the late Archbishop Bonifatius Hausiku of Namibia's Roman Catholic Church stood in front of TV cameras to proclaim to his congregation, "AIDS is a disease, not a sin" – shocking words to many. The archbishop then announced the launch of Catholic AIDS Action, a support group for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). 

Two years later, Catholic AIDS Action, with support from the Implementing AIDS Prevention and Care (IMPACT) Project, managed by Family Health International, had built a national network of organizations providing home-based family care and other services. Some 13,000 OVC now receive care from trained volunteers throughout the country's parishes. Catholic AIDS Action also runs three multi-purpose urban centers, which offer counseling and testing services, income-generation projects, support groups, training workshops and prevention activities, as well as after-school programs and meals for OVC. 

"While churches of different faiths in Namibia have long provided social services to their communities, the overwhelming impact of the HIV epidemic has transformed their role into something much greater," says Rose De Buysscher, FHI's country director in Namibia. "Churches and faith-based organizations (FBOs) now provide almost all of the country's HIV-related social services."

In 2004, the Evangelical Lutheran Church launched a comprehensive program of AIDS prevention and care. Recently, the Rhenish Church and the Apostolic Faith Mission also started HIV/AIDS programs. The country's four Catholic Health Services hospitals and the Lutheran Medical Services hospital provide counseling and testing, antiretroviral treatment and services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.

IMPACT collaborates with the Namibian government to strengthen these and other faith-based initiatives through technical assistance and training in program management, finances, and monitoring and evaluation. IMPACT, which is funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the U.S. Agency for International Development, works worldwide with many religious institutions and FBOs.

"Our experience in Namibia has shown that faith-based initiatives succeed when they're built on the values and structures of the religious institution," says Lucy Steinitz, a senior technical officer at FHI/Namibia. "Another important lesson has been that you go to religious leaders first to win their support, which facilitates community acceptance of new programs."

The synergy between faith-based initiatives and Namibian government programs is key to the success of the national response to HIV. Supported by IMPACT, the Church Alliance for Orphans works closely with government agencies to train and support local congregations that provide OVC care and support. Lifeline/Childline and Philippi Namibia, also IMPACT partners, are nondenominational Christian counseling organizations providing training and support services for adults and children affected by HIV. They train lay counselors for both government-managed and community-based programs, maintain drop-in centers and a counseling hotline, and run camps for OVC. FBOs also increasingly address underlying community problems that amplify the epidemic's impact, including alcohol abuse, domestic violence and inadequate nutrition for vulnerable community members.

In some cases, church leaders collaborate with traditional kings and chiefs. In 2004, the Evangelical Lutheran Church AIDS Programme (ELCIN), with IMPACT support, hosted Namibia's first AIDS education conference for traditional and religious community leaders in western Namibia. More than 500 participated in the conference, including religious and traditional leaders, government officials and community members.

Photo:  Young members of the Children's Choir at Catholic AIDS Action's Bernhard Nordkamp Centre. (Lucy Steinitz/FHI)

Related Article: IMPACT and Partners Host Gathering of Namibian Traditional and Religious Leaders to Discuss Responses to AIDS