UN taps Caritas Manila in fight against AIDS

In an unprecedented development, the United Nations and the Roman Catholic Church agreed to work together to combat the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), in the Philippines.

Despite opposing views on how to fight the disease, the Joint UN Program on HIV or AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Archdiocese of Manila, through its social services arm Caritas Manila, have agreed to draw up a proposal that would respond to the threat of AIDS in the country.

UNAIDS representative Dr. Aldo Landi and Caritas Manila executive director Fr. Anton Pascual recently agreed to create a working group, composed of members from both sides, that would formulate the proposal to be presented to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines before the year ends.

Landi, a veteran of anti-AIDS programs who has studied sectoral actions in different countries, said during the signing of the agreement that priests and Catholic institutions have very effective means to communicate and influence people on how to properly care for people who have AIDS.

He said that in Africa, the continent with the highest number of recorded AIDS cases, homilies and direct involvement of priests with parishioners proved to be more effective in educating people about AIDS.

Pascual, on the other hand, agreed on the importance of the roles of priests and parishes in bringing about effective change. He assured UNAIDS of the Church’s full support and reiterated the importance of networks and media during the implementation of various programs that will come as a result of the collaboration.

Both representatives of UNAIDS and Caritas Manila stressed that they would concentrate on the common concerns instead of their differences and that the output must be effective yet acceptable to both parties.

One point of contention will likely be the use of contraceptives to stop the spread of AIDS. UNAIDS has been endorsing the use of artificial contraceptive methods to prevent the spread of the disease, while the Church has been vehemently against artificial means and supports only natural methods of birth control.

In November, an official of the Philippine National AIDS Council warned that the Philippines is on the brink of an "explosion" of cases of HIV infection and full-blown AIDS.

Dr. Roderick Poblete said that the latest count of 2,354 HIV cases and 702 AIDS cases was just the "tip of the iceberg."

Poblete said while the number of reported HIV cases is low compared to other countries such as Africa, where one out of four persons is reportedly infected, the Philippines faces the threat of an HIV "epidemic."