Did you know that the world’s ABC strategy of HIV/AIDS prevention was an indigenous invention of Uganda, with a specific and deep involvement of the church?
I did. What I did not know was the role of the Ugandan Church.
Pastor Gary Skinner, in his autobiographical book, Where Faith Lit the Way, writes that the original message was: (A)bstinence, Be faithful (monogamy) and (C)hrist.
The acronym, developed by a coalition of government, the church and diverse support groups that had come together to tackle the HIV/AIDS issue, had the imprint of the Church allover it, in that “C” for “Christ.”
The strategy was so effective that it was taken up by the international community, who funded the HIV/AIDS prevention fight- but not before changing the “C” to “condom use”, for global adaptability of the strategy.
This change from Christ to Condom use apparently stunned the Christian community which had initiated the programme. While they were not opposed to condom use, they felt that a commitment to Christ and living his purpose for our sexual lives was the ultimate solution.
Nonetheless, the programme had been so effective that the church continued with it, despite the pressure to promote condom use.
The eventual success of this strategy -a decline in Uganda’s then HIV prevalence from 15% in the late 90s to 5% in the early 2000s- earned Uganda a distinguished spot in the global public health wall of fame.
I did. What I did not know was the role of the Ugandan Church.
Pastor Gary Skinner, in his autobiographical book, Where Faith Lit the Way, writes that the original message was: (A)bstinence, Be faithful (monogamy) and (C)hrist.
The acronym, developed by a coalition of government, the church and diverse support groups that had come together to tackle the HIV/AIDS issue, had the imprint of the Church allover it, in that “C” for “Christ.”
The strategy was so effective that it was taken up by the international community, who funded the HIV/AIDS prevention fight- but not before changing the “C” to “condom use”, for global adaptability of the strategy.
This change from Christ to Condom use apparently stunned the Christian community which had initiated the programme. While they were not opposed to condom use, they felt that a commitment to Christ and living his purpose for our sexual lives was the ultimate solution.
Nonetheless, the programme had been so effective that the church continued with it, despite the pressure to promote condom use.
The eventual success of this strategy -a decline in Uganda’s then HIV prevalence from 15% in the late 90s to 5% in the early 2000s- earned Uganda a distinguished spot in the global public health wall of fame.
