The Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is pledging $144 million for a three-year program to fight HIV/AIDS, in a nation where some 70,000 children are orphans because of the virus. Caritas Congo Director Bruno Miteyo presented the program at a bishops' meeting in the capital last week, Zenit reports.
The aid agency will use the funds for a three-faceted effort that includes education and prevention, treatment and care, and working against the stigma often associated with contracting AIDS.
The spread of the virus in Congo is particularly linked to the prominence of rape as an "act of war" in the rife-stricken nation. As many as 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone and 10% to 12% of women raped are infected with HIV, the aid organisation reported.<
Thus, funds from the Church are eagerly welcomed. The $US144 million pledge is a collaborative effort that brought in the participation of Congo's 47 dioceses.
Caritas' special advisor on HIV/AIDS, Fr Robert Vitillo of Paterson, New Jersey, was at the Kinshasa meeting.
He said: "I visited the Mama Yemo Hospital during my trip, where 60% of all patients in the Internal Medical Section are living with HIV. The hospital's director told me that patients relied on the special social, emotional, nutritional and spiritual support offered by Church organisations.
"In this new AIDS plan, the Church in Congo is providing its resources, expertise, experience and outreach for this work. We have to hope that the government, international agencies, and sister Catholic donors will make available sufficient resources to Caritas Congo in order to fulfil its mandate."
The priest highlighted the plight of women and their particular vulnerability to the virus: "Tragic and systematic rape as a so-called 'act of war' causes even greater vulnerability to contracting HIV among women who already are deprived of control over their lives and prevented from enjoying their God-given dignity."
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