Catholic students resolve to fight AIDS

(Aug.25,2009): Catholic student leaders from around Southeast Asia have resolved to fight the spread of AIDS in their own areas. About 45 of these leaders met in Sri Racha, a coastal town southeast of Bangkok, for the seventh International Young Christian Students (IYCS) South East Asian Session. They resolved to develop positive behaviours toward life, and to abstain from premarital sex and drug abuse. They also agreed to press their countries' respective health ministries, with support from Caritas Church social-welfare organizations, to improve access to pediatric HIV testing and treatment, and to fight prejudice and discrimination toward people living with HIV/AIDS. The theme of the recent meeting was "Students Uniting in Faith to Fight against AIDS." Delegates from China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam said they plan to join global anti-AIDS efforts from their own home bases, organize campaigns for young people, and focus on AIDS awareness during camps, leadership training sessions, seminars and school activities. They will also translate HIV/AIDS brochures produced by IYCS Asia into local dialects.
Monsignor Robert Vitillo, Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS to Caritas Internationalis, and Camillian Father John Baptist Phuong Dinh Toai from Vietnam, head of Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese's Committee for HIV/AIDS Patients addressed the group.)