Drop in centres for people living with HIV are being considered by bishops.
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MYANMAR Bishops Consider Intensifying HIV And AIDS Ministry
January 14, 2009
YANGON (UCAN) -- Catholic bishops in Myanmar say they want to do more to help people living with HIV and AIDS, and might establish "drop-in centers" in the country's two main cities.
Discussion on a "caring HIV and AIDS ministry" was on the agenda of the bishops' annual general assembly, held Jan. 6-9 at the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar headquarters in Yangon. All 17 bishops of Myanmar attended. The prelates discussed various issues concerning the Church including seminaries and formation programs.
Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, conference president, spoke about an urgent need to deal with HIV and AIDS, for which he said bishops and priests need more awareness training.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which usually leads to AIDS, is mainly contracted through sexual intercourse with an infected person or reuse of a hypodermic needle used by someone with the virus. It can also be passed from infected mothers to babies in the womb or while nursing.
Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon suggested the need for drop-in centers in Yangon and Mandalay where people with HIV or AIDS could go for help and stay temporarily.
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, estimates 240,000 of Myanmar's 55 million people are living with HIV or AIDS.
Bishop Francis Daw Tang of Myitkyina told UCA News after the meeting that the situation is severe, and people with HIV fear revealing their situation to others. But he added that after a World AIDS Day event he ran in his diocese in December, some people have been willing to admit they are HIV-positive and to talk about their situation.
He said he has been running a center in Myitkyina, northernmost Myanmar, for more than three years. The center includes a cloth-making facility for patients, and the diocese also has been offering guidance on prevention. But more needs to be done in remote areas, he added.
Bishop Philip Lasap Za Hawng, whose Lashio diocese neighbors Myitkyina diocese to the south, told UCA News the main form of HIV transmission there is sharing of contaminated needles rather than sexual intercourse.
"It is a sad thing that the Catholic Church doesn't have a specific prevention program," he told UCA News. "The bishops' conference has no exact planning on that, but each diocese gets help through Karuna (compassion) Myanmar Social Services (KMSS)."
The annual meeting included a presentation by Augustine Piang, who manages the HIV and AIDS awareness programs of KMSS, the bishops' social-welfare organization, on the work of his organization and other Catholic groups.
Piang conveyed caregivers' requests for more help from the clergy and catechists, that drop-in centers in Yangon and Mandalay should be set up, and that clear guidelines should be offered concerning prevention and the Church's position on the use of condoms.
He spoke of the stigma from which many with HIV or AIDS suffer and said KMSS runs programs that educate people about the virus. Piang also observed that the number of patients who face this stigma is "dropping year by year."
KMSS and other Catholic groups offer awareness training, counseling, day-care centers, nutrition support, home visits, drug treatment, care for AIDS orphans, and help arranging funeral services for those who die of opportunistic diseases after AIDS destroys their immune system.
http://www.ucanews.com/2009/01/14/bishops-plan-to-intensify-hiv-and-aids-ministry/
