South African Archbishop Discusses HIV/AIDS, Church’s Role in Fighting Pandemic

The South African government needs to stop "dithering" on the issue of HIV/AIDS and make a "concentrated effort" to fight the epidemic in the country, Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, said on Wednesday in an interview with kaisernetwork.org. Ndungane called race "a red herring" in the response to HIV/AIDS. "We need to fight the pandemic as pandemic and not assign issues of race because once you do that, it blurs our focus on what we need to be doing together as a people of God in this world," Ndungane said. He said he believes the church can help fight HIV/AIDS by battling the stigma that "decimates families" and prevents people from undergoing HIV testing. "We have a responsibility to use all of our resources in the fight against stigma because if people can know their status quite earlier on we would win this battle against AIDS," Ndungane said (kaisernetwork.org HealthCast, 10/27). A video of the interview is available online.