Statement From The National Conclave on HIV/AIDS Policy for Bl...( Clergy Statement and Natio...),Health

Clergy Statement and National HIV/AIDS Elimination Act

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- In the spirit of our historic role of advancing prophetic social justice ministry, Black clergy are stepping forward to play a stronger leadership role in advocating for theologically sound HIV/AIDS public policy. Working with the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA), we are determined to live up to the biblical mandate that calls us to be "the light of the world." With faithfulness to this calling, we must compassionately embrace those who are infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Through life-affirming ministry, we are committed to caring for the physical, mental and spiritual needs of all people in our communities whose lives are being devastated by this insidious disease.

Just as African American clergy fervently came together 50 years ago to fight for civil rights, we are banning together today to bring an end to HIV/AIDS and its potential to obliterate our community. To combat this plague, which is claiming five to seven thousand lives per day worldwide and is destroying Black families and killing Black men and women at a disproportionate rate of genocidal magnitude:

-- We will aggressively seek to have every person under the sphere of our

influence tested for HIV in order to know their status.

-- We will promote HIV/AIDS awareness to insure that all Black clergy

serving in our denominations and other congregations are equipped to

address issues related to this disease in a factual and scientifically

sound manner.

-- We will use the ABC/D model as a behavioral guideline for prevention

initiatives:

A ---- Abstain

B ---- Be Faithful

C ---- Use Condoms

D ---- Don't Engage In Risky Behavior

To ensure that we are jointly using our resources to influence and impact public policy, our proposed legislative
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