African bishops pledge to increase resources in fight against AIDS

Published: 2003-12-01

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Africa's bishops said they will increase their resources dedicated to fighting AIDS. "It concerns us that our already fragile economies should be further weakened with much of the trained labor force lost to HIV and AIDS," said the statement, released by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, which represents more than 600 bishops. Noting that poverty "goes hand in hand" with AIDS, the bishops said that "poverty facilitates the transmission of HIV, makes adequate treatment unaffordable, accelerates death from HIV-related illness and multiplies the social impact of the epidemic," the bishops said. The statement, "Our Prayer Is Always Full of Hope," was signed Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, in Accra, Ghana, by Father Peter Lwaminda, the symposium's general secretary.

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