Prayer is good, prayer and medication is better!

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Pastor Elizabeth was told that prayer was all she needed to fight HIV, she stopped taking her medication after faith leaders insisted she cease taking anti-HIV and life saving drugs.  She wrestled with the decision and is now an advocate for taking medication.  She says “If you are sick, and someone tells you not to take medication, they are misleading you.  Pastor Elizabeth realises this and wishes to share that HIV is simply an illness which requires medication.

At the beginning of the HIV epidemic in the early eighties, some faith leaders preached that only ‘sinners’ contracted the virus, advising that the only solution for those living with HIV was to pray hard for forgiveness. While many faith leaders have since realised that HIV is simply a virus that can affect anyone, unfortunately some haven’t. In fact, a few have gone even further, telling those in their congregations who are living with HIV to stop taking their Antiretroviral treatment (ARVs) and instead concentrate on praying because that’s the only way they will experience emotional and physical healing.

Whether praying to be healed from HIV is being preached in select churches, or some church-goers living with HIV are misinterpreting what their faith leaders are telling them, a number of HIV positive people have died as a result of stopping their HIV medication. What remains unclear is how many people are being converted to this way of thinking. Is this a big problem warranting a global intervention, or are we making a mountain out of a molehill? I personally don’t know the definitive answers to these questions, but what I can say is that where prayer and HIV healing are concerned, I have witnessed and have heard of some pretty bizarre behaviour among people living with HIV, particularly within African communities in the UK and in some parts of Africa.

It was reported in October 2011 that blind faith in prayer claimed the lives of three people who were HIV positive.  At least three people in London with HIV died after they stopped taking life saving drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.

The women died after attending churches in London where they were encouraged to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs in the belief that God would heal them, their friends and a leading HIV doctor said.

HIV prevention charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN) says a growing number of London churches have been telling people the power of prayer will “cure” their infections.

“This is happening through a number of churches. We’re hearing about more cases of this,” AHPN chief Francis Kaikumba said.

Whether you believe in religion or not, there is absolutely nothing wrong with prayer to help you with HIV, however there is everything wrong with discontinuing medication in favour of prayer.  Take time to consider the different mechanises to combat HIV.  Prayer may help the soul and medication will help the body.  There are a lot of people of all faiths in within research and development who would hope you look after your body too.

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Faith leaders across England in ‘HIV healing’ claims

Synagogue Church Of All Nations website shows videos of people it claims have been “cured”

Dangerous cases of faith leaders who tell people with HIV to stop taking their life-saving drugs have been identified by African-led community groups in a number of locations across England.

Seven groups said there were instances of people being told by faith leaders they had been “healed” through prayer – and then pressured to stop taking antiretroviral medication, according to the charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN).

Cases were reported to have taken place in Finsbury Park, Tottenham, and Woolwich, in London, as well as in Manchester, Leeds and at a number of churches across the North West.

Last year, BBC London identified three people with HIV who died after they stopped taking antiretroviral drugs on the advice of their Evangelical Christian pastors.

AHPN, which tackles health inequalities for Africans living in the UK, called on the government to do more to prevent faith leaders encouraging people with HIV to stop taking their drugs.

“The government, the department of health, and local authorities are not doing enough to respond to this,” said Jacqueline Stevenson, AHPN’s head of policy.

Multiple cases
A Department of Health spokesman said: “Prayer is not a substitute for HIV treatment and we would be very concerned if people are not taking their medication on the advice of faith leaders.”

AHPN said the cases reported to it by community groups showed:

Most respondents were aware of more than one case of faith healing claims and pressure to stop taking medication. One member was aware of five cases
Many followers believed the testimony of pastors who claimed they could heal them
The majority of cases reported involved Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian pastors
In some cases treatment has been restarted, in others the health and mental health of clients has declined.
Although community groups said they were aware of multiple cases, the members who reported being exposed to faith healers were unwilling to name the churches involved.

AHPN’s Ms Stevenson said: “People were reluctant to name the churches and pastors.”

Cancer ‘cure’

Synagogue Church Of All Nations says: “Never a disease God cannot cure.”

Last year AHPN said it believed the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), which has UK headquarters in Southwark, south London, may be one of those involved in such practices.

The church is headed by Pastor T B Joshua, who the Forbes richlist named as Nigeria’s third richest clergyman.

SCOAN’s website, which was set up in Lagos, Nigeria, now shows videos of people the church claims have been “cured” of HIV through prayer.

One video shows a woman Agnes Agnote visiting the church in Nigeria saying: “I am HIV positive. I went to the hospital and they confirmed it was HIV/Aids.”

The video then shows Pastor Joshua blessing her, saying “everyone is healed”.

It goes on to show Ms Agnote apparently showing a more recent medical report, with a narrator saying, “it clearly states that Agnes tested negative to HIV Aids”.

Videos on the website also depict people being cured of “cancers” and “disabilities”.

‘Anointing sticker’ tour
The church’s British website now gives accounts of people reporting to be healed from conditions including arthritis and a lung blood clot after being a sprayed with “anointing water” by SCOAN in the UK.

It promotes a monthly “anointing water prayer line” in London “for any health issues” and advertises an “anointing sticker” tour of the UK and Ireland, which begins on Monday.

Last year, when asked by the BBC if it claimed its pastors could cure HIV, SCOAN responded: “We are not the healer. God is the healer. Never a sickness God cannot heal. Never a disease God cannot cure.”

But it added: “We don’t ask people to stop taking medication. Doctors treat – God heals.”

Ms Stevenson warned: “Often faith groups and churches spring up and nobody really knows they are there or what they are doing.”

“There needs to be investment in taking some action at national and local levels to address this issue.”

She added that AHPN wanted to see faith groups and churches “having the same responsibility in terms of safeguarding and respecting individuals as any other organisation would be expected to have”.

But AHPN warned that criminal sanctions would not be an appropriate solution and would risk “pushing the problem underground”.

“We call for local authorities to work with faith groups and ensure these negative messages are not put out.”

The Department of Communities and Local Government refused to respond to these comments.

But the Department of Health said faith organisations “can make a positive contribution to raising awareness of HIV” by “highlighting the benefits of testing and effective antiretroviral treatment”.

Original article By Andy Dangerfield
BBC News, London

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Ambassadors on ‘HIV Heart to Heart’ campaign face death threats

Reverend John Kwashie Azumah, Minister of the Gospel at Mount Zion Evangelical Ministries and member of ambassadors on HIV Heart to Heart campaign has said “the team had received threats on their lives since they went public with their HIV status”.

He said “those who attacked him included both Christians and non-Christians and they accused him of being a false prophet and a disgrace to the pastoral calling and therefore vowed to eliminate him, his wife and children”.

Rev Azumah who is also the National Chairperson of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS, Ghana Chapter (INERELA+gh) disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

He said “although he was worried about the development, but was not afraid because he believed God was using him to tell a story to all those who were pretending to wake up to the reality that HIV and AIDS was no longer an issue of morality but a medical condition“.

Rev Azumah said “while it was globally accepted that HIV was no longer an issue of morality but a medical condition, many were yet to comprehend that the disease was no respecter of persons and its mode of transmission was diverse”.

He said “there was no need to cry over spilt milk, nor [lose valuable ideas], but to hold the bull by the horns and deal ruthlessly with the problem and help give hope to the many people living with the disease and further help eliminate stigma and discrimination”.

Rev Azumah said “stigmatising a person with HIV was in itself sin against God and encouraged all who were affected and infected with HIV and AIDS to strictly adhere to their medication and nutrition guidelines instead of substituting them for prayers from purported ‘Men of God'”.

He said “he was determined and committed in spite of the difficulties they faced from all angles including family, friends, communities to use the “Heart-to-Heart Media Campaign” to eliminate stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS and achieves“zero discrimination” and ultimately a “zero infection””.

Rev Azumah appealed to the media, especially the electronic media to be circumspect in the their diction on issues relating to HIV and AIDS and give accurate reports devoid of all the unnecessary colouring that demean and further stigmatizes people living with the disease.

Mrs Mercy Acquah-Hayford, National Coordinator of INERELA+gh, appealed to religious bodies to offer positive messages that would give hope to persons living with HIV and not condemn them especially those who had boldly and openly declared their status and champion the fight against stigma and discrimination.

She said “some purported religious leaders often deceive unsuspecting and desperate people living with HIV to abandon their medications and substitute them for prayers and after they had deteriorated, were sent off to die away from their prayer camps”.

Mrs Acquah-Hayford advised people living with the disease to take their medications and support them with prayers for spiritual fulfilment and the possibility of total cure.

She appealed to Ghanaians to understand the fact that HIV was real and could affect anyone without caution, therefore the need to support those who had been bold to tell their story and encourage others to follow suit for treatment and care to help halt the spread of the virus and save a generation from the pandemic.

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