In the absence of curative drugs and prophylactic vaccines, the only way currently available for dealing on a large scale with HIV/AIDS is through behavioural change, with information being translated into behaviours that promote a healthy state of mind, body and spirit (Siame, 1998). In heavily infected countries, the ones most likely to be HIV free are those in the 5–14 year age group. These are the real window of hope for the future. They are also the target population for primary and junior secondary education. The school system is the only social structure with the potential to reach out to all of these young people. Hence there is critical and urgent need to ensure that school systems in seriously affected countries are proactive in communicating an unremitting series of messages and information about HIV/AIDS.
The second prong involves care of the people who are suffering from AIDS. On the care of the people suffering from AIDS the XIth ICASA looked at the need to make available anti-viro drugs which among other things help to inhibit the multiplication of the virus. The issue of anti-viro drugs centers around its affordability. Up until now these drugs are very expensive and ordinary people cannot afford them. The other important component with regards to the care aspect is the provision of counselling services. Counselling is needed to help individuals and families to get over the stigma and trauma that often accompanies the realisation that one or a member of one’s family has been diagnosed as being HIV positive. Individuals and families need to be helped to come to terms with this reality. They also need to be helped to live positively.
The third prong involves dealing with the social impact of HIV/AIDS. One of the major social impacts of HIV/AIDS is the orphan crisis – an upsurge in the numbers of children who have lost one or both parents because of AIDS. No section of the society has been exempted from this crisis. These children have a lot of material and psychological needs that require society's attention and care. This is why the orphan crisis poses a serious challenge to all of us. What are we doing in order to provide an effective response to the orphan crisis?
This is the last issue of the JCTR Bulletin before 1999 shades into 2000, before the celebration of the Jubilee. Given the great issues of our time - economic and political cries for liberation; globalisation; poverty throughout two-thirds of the world; given the presence of apparently limitless scientific, technical and artistic imagination, how shall we respond? How shall we fulfil what John Paul II refers to as 'the duty to sanctify time'? The scholarship and commentary that surround Jubilee teaching cite two scriptures of primary importance: Isaiah 61:1-4 and Luke 4:16-30. In both texts, the Spirit of the Lord is invoked as being 'upon' the speaker who has been 'anointed' to preach good news to the poor, freedom to the oppressed, sight to the blind, and 'a year of the Lord's favour'. Scholars point to the likelihood that both Isaiah and Jesus, in alluding to the year of favour, were pointing back in history to the teachings of Jubilee, and pointing forward to their application in the present and the future.
The JCTR staff would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Millennium and Jubilee celebrations. It is our hope that we will work together to seek effective ways of applying the Jubilee teachings in the present and future.
Alex Muyebe, S.J.
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