Religious groups have provided valuable service in prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, officials of a quasi-governmental organization and an NGO said at a national interreligious event.

“We would like to show our respect and appreciation to religious figures and their followers who make efforts to provide preventive education, health care and support for people with HIV/AIDS and their families,” said Phan Thi Thanh Nhan.

Nhan, who heads the Thua Thien-Hue province unit of the Vietnam Women’s Union, was speaking at a Nov. 22-23 conference in Hue, which had the theme: “Strengthening the Commitment of Women and Men of Faith in HIV and AIDS programs in Vietnam.”

About 300 monks, priests, nuns, caregivers, and social and health workers representing the country’s six officially recognized religions — Buddhism, Cao Dai, Catholicism, Hoa Hao, Islam, Protestantism — took part in event.

Cao Dai, a syncretic belief system, and Hoa Hao, a Buddhist sect, were both founded in Vietnam.

Religious groups have recognized the danger an epidemic would pose and have worked to prevent it, Nhan said. Her union, a socio-political organization founded in 1930 that claims more than 13 million members, receives support and guidance from the government.

This second national conference of its kind was organized jointly by the Vietnam Women’s Union, Nordic Assistance to Vietnam (NAV), and the United States Agency for International Development. NAV, the country office of Norwegian Church Aid, has been working in central and northern Vietnam since the mid-1990s.

NAV representative Ingunn Brandwoll said more that 1,000 members of religious communities in Vietnam have been active in a wide range of HIV/AIDS-related work since November 2006, when the first national conference was held.

In a joint statement signed at the end of the recent conference, religious representatives pledged to promote cooperation with government and other secular organizations to combat HIV/AIDS. They said they will teach moral and religious values to their followers as one way of prevention.

They also agreed to provide affected people access to prevention, treatment and assistance.

Venerable Thich Nu Thanh Hai, a Buddhist nun from Ho Chi Minh City, told the conference that teaching religious values can be effective in prevention since many people are infected with HIV through commercial sex and drugs. Many of them come from families with problems and are school dropouts, she added.

She said her group regularly visits and cares for 450 patients.

Father Jean Baptiste Nguyen Minh Sang, who signed the final statement, serves as chaplain for a group of Catholic volunteers in the Hue area. He said local Catholic and Buddhist nuns have worked together to support people with HIV/AIDS and their families since 1996, with NAV’s support.

According to the priest of Hue archdiocese, nuns from both religions provide free accommodation, food and medicine to patients. They also hold religious rites and cover funeral expenses for patients that die.

According to government records, 144,483 people were living with HIV in Vietnam as of April. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, estimates the figure at around 290,000 people.

Source:  Religious groups earn praise for HIV/AIDS work (UCAN)

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