Arab religious leaders at UN meeting pledge to fight AIDS

With 92,000 cases of HIV infection arising in the Arab world recently, regional religious leaders at a United Nations meeting today signed a declaration pledging to join in the worldwide struggle against the pandemic.

"We, the Muslim and Christian leaders, working in the field of HIV/AIDS in the Arab world…face the imminent danger of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and have a great responsibility and duty that demands urgent action," said the "Cairo Declaration of Religious Leaders in the Arab Region in Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic," signed by 80 leaders in Egypt.

It also called for the abolition of "all forms of discrimination, isolation, marginalization and stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS."

Under the auspices of the League of Arab States, the conference was organized by the UN Development Programme's (UNDP) HIV/AIDS Regional Programme in the Arab States (HARPAS), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and a non-governmental organization (NGO), Family Health International/Impact.

The signatories included Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi of Cairo's al-Azhar University, Egyptian-born Qatari scholar and broadcaster Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Mufti Ali Goma'a of Egypt and Coptic Christian Bishop Yoanas, who signed on behalf of Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria.

According to figures published this month by UNAIDS, the Arab region now has 92,000 adults and children newly infected with HIV, and between 230,000 and 1.5 million adults and children living with HIV, while 28,000 adults and children have died due to AIDS.

In addition, UNAIDS said, 48 per cent of Arab adults living with HIV are women.