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Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA)

Churches in Africa, rooted in communities, are influential institutions which can be a force for transformation, bringing healing, hope, and accompaniment to all people affected by HIV. EHAIA was launched in 2002 to enable churches in Africa to access information, training, and resources and to make contact with other churches and bodies working in the same field to help them deal with AIDS in their communities. Initially an "ecumenical initiative," EHAIA reached out to about 9000 participants during its first four years. Reports from its meetings tell moving stories of insights gained and how churches and individuals changed in their attitude to sero-positive persons.

The project now brings an ecumenical dimension to the churches’ care, education, and counselling programmes. It strives to assist churches and related organizations to achieve professional levels of efficiency, coordination, capacity building, and communication in all HIV-related activities. A project leader and assistant based at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, five regional offices and regional consultants, and two theological consultants staff the project, with guidance from international and regional reference groups and in collaboration with the All Africa Conference of Churches, sub-regional church fellowships, national councils of churches, and associations of people living with HIV. EHAIA works with a wide spectrum of denominations and churches characteristic of diverse theologies and practices: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, African Instituted, Evangelical, and Pentecostal.

Plan of Action

In November 2001, at a Global Consultation on Ecumenical Responses to the Challenges of HIV and AIDS in Africa held in Nairobi, African and international church leaders and African ecumenical organizations developed a co-ordinated "Plan of Action." The plan called for the setting up of an enabling support structure under the WCC, now known as the EHAIA. With the plan of action, the churches committed themselves, among other things, to:

Vision

With this plan of action, the ecumenical family envisions a transformed and life-giving church, embodying and thus proclaiming the abundant life to which we are called, and capable of meeting the many challenges presented by the epidemic. For the churches, the most powerful contribution in combating HIV transmission is the eradication of stigma and discrimination, a key that will open the door for all those who dream of a viable and achievable way of living with HIV and AIDS and preventing the spread of the virus.

EHAIA conducts workshops and training programmes; responds to individual requests from churches for advice on HIV church policy development, pastoral training, or project planning support; and distributes information and resource materials in the regions and via a website and electronic newsletter.

Selected publications

Acting in Hope Ezra Chitando calls upon African churches to speak out and challenge the systems of oppression, so that AIDS-competent churches can work towards the tranformation of death-dealing practices while strengthening life-enhancing ones. Click to download as pdf document. Also available from EHAIA in print.

Living with Hope Addressing the need for an in-depth understanding and analysis of how churches in Africa are living with the epidemic of HIV and AIDS, this book insists that the church must accompany people and communities living with HIV and AIDS on their journeys of faith. Click to download as pdf document. Also available from EHAIA in print.

Learn more about the HIV and AIDS Curriculum for Theological Education by Extension in Africa.

Read more in-depth about the history, challenges, successes, and future directions of EHAIA.

Adapted with permission from the EHAIA website, February 2009.