Religious summit engages religious leaders in the HIV response
A summit of high level religious leaders on the response to HIV took place in the Netherlands from 22 to 23 March, 2010.
"Our focus was ending stigma and discrimination for those who are HIV positive and who have AIDS," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told the ELCA News Service. "We recognized that religious communities have been part of that."
The meeting explored opportunities for religious leaders to promote universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in their communities and speak out against stigma and discrimination affecting people living with HIV. It brought together some 40 Baha’í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders together with the Executive Directors of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the AIDS Ambassadors of The Netherlands and Sweden, leaders and representatives of networks of people living with HIV and other organizations active in the response to HIV.
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