"We have heard the cry of our those affected: Let us respond with compassion."

The National Executive Committee of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), meeting at Bonaero Park, wishes to declare that it has heard the cry of those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. We therefore appeal to all stakeholders to redouble our resolve to seek bold and effective ways of combating the pandemic.

Our churches regularly encounter the stigmatisation, fear, deprivation, and despair experienced by many people living with HIV/AIDS. Through our ministries in local communities, we are witnessing an alarming increase in the number of deaths due to AIDS. We see families who lack the necessary resources to bury their dead with dignity, orphaned children left with neither parental guidance nor financial support, elderly people trying to feed and care for their grandchildren on meagre pensions, and communities and extended families rejecting the sick and orphaned.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has clearly reached crisis proportions. We believe that both public and private bodies must redouble their efforts to address the needs of those infected and affected by this disease.

We have been encouraged by several developments this year. We applaud the courage of persons living with HIV/AIDS who openly declare their status in the face of negative attitudes in our communities. To them we send out a message of hope and support, plead for forgiveness on behalf of those who respond in a judgemental way to their status.

We applaud the Treatment Action Campaign’s efforts to compel both government and pharmaceutical manufacturers to step up their efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. We reiterate the call for free access to treatment and availability of drugs at affordable prices.

We salute the efforts of those provincial governments that have begun to roll out mother-to-child transmission prevention programmes in public health facilities. We hope that these initiatives will provide further evidence of the efficacy of such programmes and will encourage other provinces to act expeditiously to introduce corresponding measures.

We encourage Cabinet for its new policy of partnership with all sectors, including organizations that work with HIV/AIDS persons and PWA’s themselves.

As a nation, we share a collective responsibility to care for and embrace our brothers and sisters who are living with HIV/AIDS.

We therefore call on:

Churches to be Christlike in their responses to those infected and affected by the virus; to explore practical ways to demonstrate God’s love and compassion through programmes of care, testing and counseling; and to address the issue of stigmatisation as a matter of urgency.

Government to accelerate the provision of appropriate medications to prevent mother-to-child transmission, to give survivors of rape and sexual abuse access to post-exposure prophylaxis, and to improve the quality of life of those living with HIV.

The international community and pharmaceutical manufacturers to take steps to make vital medications available to both the public and private sectors at affordable rates. The provision of these drugs can no longer be seen as simply a business issue; it must be recognised as a moral issue, a global crisis in which all humanity has an obligation to act as they are able.

Employers to make provision of drugs to their employees who are infected as a standard practice and benefit.

As a nation, we have proven that we have what it take to make us Proudly South African. We urge that all of us should have the moral courage to respond to the HIV/AIDS challenge in a manner that can make us a winning nation once again.

Adopted by the
National Executive Committee
South African Council of Churches

Bonaero Park
3 October 2002