Papal foundation plans to expand assistance to AIDS patients

(July 22, 2011) A papal foundation dedicated to AIDS patients may expand its services to include a global program of distributing anti-AIDS drugs, a Vatican official said. The initiative would respond to the shortage of antiretroviral and other drugs in poorer countries, where the vast majority of AIDS patients receive no adequate treatment, Msgr. Jean-Marie Mupendawatu, secretary of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, said in an interview on Thursday with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The Congolese monsignor is a delegate to the Good Samaritan Foundation, established by Blessed John Paul II in 2004 to provide economic support to the sick who are most in need, particularly those suffering from AIDS. He said the foundation planned to strengthen its activity, especially in Africa, by increasing its promotion of donations of pharmaceutical and medical material, and by working more closely with local Catholic leaders to place the church in the forefront of the care for AIDS patients. The foundation is also studying the possibility of creating its own 'pharmaceutical center' which would allow the collection and distribution of medicines in poor countries. Msgr. Mupendawatu pointed out that while more than 25 percent of the global health care to AIDS patients is provided by Catholic institutions, the church needs to do even more in the face of the epidemic, which infects about 7,000 additional people each day. He regretted that today only about 5 percent of people with AIDS patients receive adequate care. The Vatican official underscored Church's position that effective prevention of AIDS includes the abandonment of high-risk behaviour and the adoption of a "balanced sexuality" based on premarital chastity and marital fidelity.