Church leaders in Kenya have begun a national workshop aimed at addressing stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, the Catholic Information Service for Africa/AllAfrica.com reports (allafrica.com, 4/22).
About 60 church leaders attended the workshop, which was organized by the National Council of Churches (NCCK). Canon Gideon Byamugisha, a Ugandan pastor who became the first African clergyman to publicly declare that he was HIV positive, is leading the workshop, which ends April 25.
“The national workshop aims [to build] the capacity of the executive church leaders to change their attitudes towards HIV and AIDS, and thereafter give leadership to campaigns against stigma and discrimination,” said the NCCK Deputy General Secretary Oliver Kisaka in a statement.
According to the article, more than 55,000 people become infected with HIV in Kenya each year.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I think that it's OK to be angry. I am sometimes—it's natural—we are HIV positive. but I always try to not let myself stay there too long. Let yourself feel you are human. You should not beat yourself up about being angry."
