ENI — Faith-based campaigners and religious leaders say churches should not relax their efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic despite UN figures showing a drop in the number of people worldwide living with the virus.
“This is not the time for complacency or apathy,” said South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a statement to mark World Aids Day on Dec. 1. “It is the time for compassionate leadership.”
Statistics released in November by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization have revised the estimated number of people living with HIV down from nearly 40 million to 33.2 million.
Rev. Hielke Wolters, a director at the World Council of Churches, noted that the majority of the 33 million people living with HIV are believed not to know they are HIV positive.
Wolters added that the rate of 6,800 new HIV infections every day, particularly in low and middle income countries and among women and youth, demonstrates that urgent and intensive actions are still needed.
