16.12.2005
LWF Regional Consultant Urges Youth Participation in Fight against HIV/AIDS
Youth, Women from West African Lutheran Churches Discuss Human SexualityFREETOWN, Sierra Leone/GENEVA, 16 December 2005 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Africa Regional Consultant on HIV/AIDS, Dr Mamy J. Ranaivoson, has stressed the importance of equipping youth with proper knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention for their effective participation in the fight against the pandemic. “Many young people still lack access to appropriate information and services, coupled with a reluctance to address sensitive issues such as sex and sexuality,” Ranaivoson told Lutheran World Information (LWI), following a workshop he co-facilitated in Sierra Leone.
“Our hopes after this workshop are that youth and women would go back home and start trickle down programs in their respective churches,” he said of the October 14-19 seminar attended by 22 young adults and women leaders representing member churches of the Lutheran Communion in Western Africa (LUCWA). The theme of the meeting was “Human Sexuality, Women, Youth and HIV/AIDS.”
LUCWA comprises 12 Lutheran churches, nine of which are LWF member churches.
Through presentations and daily Bible studies, participants from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone focused on subjects such as HIV prevention, voluntary testing and counseling, confidentiality, stigma and discrimination. Co-facilitator Rev. Marie Barnett, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone HIV/AIDS coordinator and LWF Executive Committee member, presented a series of biblical reflections on human sexuality and sex. Polygamy among other African cultures related to HIV/AIDS were discussed in depth during the workshop along with homosexuality.
The LWF Department for Mission and Development and the Stand with Africa campaign of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) World Hunger program supported the workshop financially. Ranaivoson is on part-time secondment from the ELCA to assist with the implementation of the LWF HIV/AIDS campaign. (297 words)
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