Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 13, 2004
Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press Writer
More than 80 religious leaders, Muslim and Christian, met at a United Nations sponsored conference on AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes it.
They acknowledged "the medical call for the use of different preventive means," but would not endorse the use of contraceptives that the United Nations recommends as a means to cut infection rates.
"It is not that easy to challenge centuries of certain positions," said Khadija Moalla, an official with the United Nations Development Program who focuses on the Arab world.
She said the conference was necessary "because policy-makers were really scared of religious leaders. It was their alibi for not working on AIDS or even doing small things."
"Now we do know there are people with HIV and we can move on," she said.
The UNDP considers the Arab world a "low-prevalence" area compared to other regions across the globe. But it estimates that about 540,000 people are infected with virus.
"Just getting these large figures and these religious communities to speak about something in a manner that was extremely open was quite revolutionary," U.N. spokeswoman Nadine Shamounki said. "It's a totally unexpected and refreshing approach (compared to the view) that God was punishing these people."
According to a recent U.N. report, the number of new infections in the region jumped almost 28 percent from 2002. In 2004, 92,000 new infections were reported.
Moalla said the religious community had made a move from only supporting "abstinence and fidelity" to a new message of "compassion, helping ill people and fighting discrimination."
A joint declaration from the leaders emphasized the importance of reaching out to vulnerable groups, like prostitutes, drug users and homosexual men, but also "(called) on them for repentance."
Conference attendees included Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, Egypt's foremost religious leader, and Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi of Qatar, head of the London-based International Association of Muslim Scholars.
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