According to an important study released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, efforts are needed to encourage greater collaboration between public health agencies and faith-based organizations (FBOs), if progress is to be made towards the goal of universal access towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.
The report, Appreciating assets: mapping, understanding, translating and engaging religious health assets in Zambia and Lesotho, estimates that between 30% and 70% of the health infrastructure in Africa is currently owned by faith-based organizations yet there is often little cooperation between these organizations and mainstream public health programmes.
The study focused on Lesotho and Zambia, which had HIV prevalence rates of 23.2% and 17% respectively in 2005. It found that Christian hospitals and health centres are providing about 40% of HIV care and treatment services in Lesotho and almost a third of the HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in Zambia are run by FBOs.
Greater role than recognized
According to the report, FBOs play much a greater role in HIV/AIDS care and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa than previously recognized. The report concludes that greater coordination and better communication are urgently needed between organizations of different faiths and the private and public health sectors.
“Faith-based organizations are a vital part of civil society,” said Dr Kevin De Cock, Director of WHO’s Department of HIV/AIDS. “Since they provide a substantial portion of care in developing countries, often reaching vulnerable populations living under adverse conditions, FBOs must be recognized as essential contributors towards universal access efforts.”
The pilot study was undertaken by partners in the African Religious Health Assets Programme (ARHAP) at the Universities of Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, and Witwatersrand in South Africa, and researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, USA. Researchers are confident that their efforts have yielded the first credible data capturing the extent to which FBOs are providing HIV/AIDS care in Lesotho and Zambia.
“The findings are trustworthy because they are validated by those who are experiencing the services,” said Gary Gunderson, Director of the Interfaith Health Program at Emory University. “The alignment of religious health assets with public systems through participatory techniques opens a basic pathway towards health that should apply widely across cultures.”