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Yesterday, Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Aids Day.
This year, the commemorations were held under the theme “Let communities lead” emphasising the need for communities to be at the centre of the response.
The church is one major institution of the community that can help with response to HIV as those diagnosed with the disease will need help.
The church plays an important role in meeting challenges faced by people living with HIV.
Breaking the news of an incurable disease to a patient is challenging for a medical practitioner.
When a person learns they are ‘HIV positive’ it is upsetting, shocking, sometimes hard to believe.
The doctor reassures the patient that, if they adhere to medication, they can live relatively normal, healthy lives.
But the shock is such that often, for the person, it still feels like a kind of death sentence.
HIV diagnosis seriously disrupts a person’s life. Things will never be the same. It can take many years to come to terms with HIV.
The person must learn to manage their health. Medication has side effects and individual tolerance is not guaranteed.
Research into living with HIV long-term shows higher rates of co morbid conditions than in the general population. Nevertheless, if the patient adheres to medication successfully, the medics will have achieved their primary aim: the suppression of the virus in the body and, consequently, no risk of onward transmission. However, in Christian terms, ‘health’ for people living with HIV is not confined to the management of a virus alone.
To live healthily means more: to live is to flourish as God intends, which goes beyond just physical health and into the realm of spiritual well-being.
Unfortunately, in practice, clinicians have difficulty engaging with the religious belief of their patients.
Under increasing pressure, clinical appointment time is reduced.
Once bloods are taken, pressure checked and previous test results reviewed, time for other concerns or questions of meaning is limited.
Likewise, secondary support services, counselling and support groups would have been cut. In any case, clinicians are unlikely to feel competent regarding questions of faith.
Physiological concerns are prioritised. Personal faith is overlooked, often considered irrelevant … unless the patient’s beliefs interfere with physical health, that is – faith is perceived as dangerous when, for example, a patient does not adhere to medication, believing that prayer can cure them.
This example may seem far-fetched. However, this happens. After diagnosis, PLWH feel desperate and afraid.
Christians are vulnerable to the influence of poor preaching and misguided or exploitative pastors. They are told God can cure the person of faith and so if one is not cured, it indicates weak faith.
This emphasises how belief can impact negatively upon health. In other cases, failure to adhere to a course of medication is a result of low self-esteem, or the stubborn belief in a God of punishment and reward.
To live well means more than just physical survival. Any Christian life fully lived includes facing the hard question of what suffering means.
HIV is still a confrontation with mortality. Questions of meaning and purpose challenge PLWH to reconsider all aspects of life.
Pastoral and spiritual support is vital. Christian PLWH need reassurance, encouragement and, above all, acceptance from their Church. Yet they know speaking about HIV raises ‘uncomfortable’ issues, not least because diagnosis has powerfully triggered their own latent fears and anxieties around sex, sexuality, disease and sin.
It is a dilemma. Christian life is lived only in a community of faith. It is not a solitary, private pursuit. But can the church be trusted to accompany PLWH?
Public health
Late diagnosis reduces the effectiveness of treatment. Undiagnosed people, unaware of infection, risk passing on HIV to others.
However, stigma associated with HIV, anxiety about a positive diagnosis and the belief that HIV is something that affects ‘others’ means that many people who are infected do not get tested.
The health sector provides medical support and health promotion campaigns. Discerning what God is saying to Christians in the midst of HIV and what our response should be is properly the responsibility of the whole church. – The Herald/thinking faith.org
Online Reporter