GAFCON pilgrims spent time on Tuesday, June 24, exploring how two Anglican provinces, Uganda and Nigeria, are working to limit new HIV/AIDS infections and care for those affected by the disease.
Keeping the Gospel message of transformation central is key to Uganda’s approach, said the Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, provincial secretary for the Anglican Church of the Province of Uganda. Almost every diocese is directly engaged in fighting HIV/AIDS and its affects, he added.
Their efforts, with the efforts of many others, have been very successful. During the mid 1980’s as much as 30 percent of Uganda’s total population was infected with HIV/AIDS. By 2005 that figure had fallen dramatically to 6.7 percent.
Our AMiA parish has a mission in the Diocese of Kibungo, Rwanda, whose mission is to care for HIV-infected people. It’s a horrible scourge.
Sounds like something productive might have been done. That’s hard to come by these years in the Anglican Communion.
Isn’t Uganda the country that focused on abstinence and fidelity as their response to HIV/AIDS?