Religious leaders told to join AIDS campaign

Religious leaders told to join AIDS campaign

Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta

Unlike in other countries, people living with HIV/AIDS in
Indonesia are ostracized by religious leaders, who should play a
pivotal role in the fight against the virus.

"We often meet religious leaders who stigmatize people with
HIV/AID as unforgivable sinners. They also believe the virus is
highly contagious and easily spread," Husein Habsyi, vice
president of the Pelita Ilmu Foundation (YPI), told a discussion
here on Saturday.

Habsyi said that religious leaders were so ignorant that they
dismissed the possibility of their communities being affected by
the virus.

"Their perception is totally wrong," he said.

Faraj, founder of the Muslim AIDS Project (MAP), a non-
governmental organization that promotes objective and non-
discriminatory treatment of people with the virus, is proof of
how wrong that perception is.

Faraj said he contracted HIV when he was a lecturer at a
Muslim boarding school in 2001. He had studied at the same
school.

"Having a strong religious background does not protect someone
from being infected with the virus," said Faraj, whose wife and
daughter have tested negative for HIV/AIDS.

Both Habsyi and Faraj believe that religious leaders could
play a leading role in curbing HIV/AIDS infection and eliminating
the stigma against people living with the virus.

"In Uganda, clerics educated and informed the public about
HIV/AIDS, and that managed to reduce the number of new cases to 8
percent per year, from 14 percent previously," said Habsyi.

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has
named Uganda a model country in the fight against the virus, in
which religious leaders took the initiative to control its
spread.

In Thailand, Buddhist monks have a set schedule in which they
visit people living with the virus in the afternoons. Among those
they visit are fellow monks.

"The monks talk to students, pass on information on the virus
and on how to prevent it from infecting them, by ways of using
condoms and new syringes. The program works very well," said
Habsyi.

Faraj founded MAP to encourage the community to treat people
with HIV/AIDS equally and fairly.

"I want people with HIV to be well-accepted by the whole
community," said Faraj.

He himself has experienced discrimination.

"Once I was asked to leave my rented house, as the owner, who
is a Muslim like me, found out that I was HIV positive. I felt
very sad, but realized there was still a lot of work to do," he
said.

His foundation offers training to people to collect the right
information on HIV/AIDS and psychosocial support for people
living with HIV and their relatives. It also publishes books.

The organization has also started to approach Muslim schools
and universities.

"We provide peer education and training to help young Muslims
fight discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS," said Faraj.