The Anglican Church has apologized to AIDS patients for its role in discrimination of the patients.
Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, who apologized on behalf of the church said that the church’s earlier approach of shunning Aids patients stemmed from ignorance.
“As a church, our earlier approach in fighting Aids was misplaced since we likened it to a disease for sinners and a curse from God," he said in Nairobi yesterday. "We apologise for earlier abandoning our flock, which was as a result of our ignorance of the disease, but today we are more informed."
Archbishop Nzimbi was speaking at a workshop for Christian and Muslim leaders. Participants at the workshop, who came from several African countries, unanimously agreed tofight the stigma by speaking about the disease openly.
Uganda’s canon Gideon Byagumisha said that stigma and discrimination would only be eliminated by giving proper information to the society.
Canon Byamugisha , who has lived with the disease for 19 years, challenged church and political leaders to be open about their HIV status saying it would help to reduce the stigma.
Canon Byamugisha urged world leaders to find the reason why 90 per cent of AIDS patients were from black Africa.
"Is it because we are more sexually promiscuous than people in other parts of the world? The answer is No," he said.
Mwangi Alex
Christian Today Correspondent