 |
Governments are bypassing faith-based organizations that do the bulk of the work with AIDS victims while spending billions of dollars on AIDS relief, says Caritas Internationalis’ adviser to the UN, Monsignor Robert Vitillo.
Monsignor Vitillo, in Australia to address local Caritas and health care workers, told The Record that governments need to recognize faith-based organizations that are not receiving the funding to carry out their essential work, The Catholic Review reports.
He said that, while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has committed US$10 billion to support programs for these diseases over the past two years, only 5 percent of those funds from the international financing institution have gone to faith-based organizations.
“Government agencies often bypass faith-based organizations even though they’re doing the bulk of the work,” he added.
This is despite the fact that, in Africa, up to 70 percent of health care is delivered by faith-based organizations, he said.
“There’s a big difference between the burden of care and the funding for them to be able to give an effective response to HIV,” Monsignor Vitillo said.
Monsignor Vitillo said that, while sub-Saharan Africa is “still the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic,” Caritas is also heavily involved in Asia and some parts of Oceania, especially Papua New Guinea.
Monsignor Vitillo said that when Caritas made HIV and AIDS one of its top action priorities in 1987 it was among the first agencies to do so.
In Geneva, Monsignor Vitillo, who was formerly executive director of CCHD, heads the global Catholic HIV and AIDS network and assists governments and the United Nations in policy development.
FULL STORY @
Caritas AIDS adviser says faith-based groups need more recognition (Catholic Review)
PHOTO
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...305 words
Share this article:
Subscribe to our feed (RSS)
Share a story with us
Follow us on Twitter