Catholic organizations to discuss AIDS in Melbourne

(Vatican Radio) Catholic organizations will be meeting in Melbourne ahead of the 20th International AIDS conference in July. The pre-conference is sponsored by Caritas Internationalis, Caritas Australia, St Vincent’s Health Australia and the Catholic HIV and AIDS Network (CHAN).

Monsignor Robert Vitillo  works for Caritas Internationalis as both Head of Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva and  Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS and health.

He said that since the 2012 International AIDS Conference, the church had witnessed a decrease in funding for many faith-based care and other community-based systems that provide treatment, care, and support for people living with AIDS and HIV and their families.

“Yet we are continually being asked to ‘do more with less’,” Monsignor Vitillo said.

 “This particular conference is important for Australia and for the whole Pacific region, because it’s the first time an international conference of this size in terms of responding to HIV and AIDS is being held in this region,” he said.  

“This represents an opportunity to promote behaviour change in order to prevent further spread of HIV in the region and to save lives  through early diagnosis and treatment of those already living with the virus,” continued Msgr. Vitillo. “Finally, it will help us to spread the Church’s message of  care and non-judgemental compassion for all those living with or affected by HIV.”

Monsignor Vitillo also said it was also an important opportunity to remember the Catholic church had been there since the  beginning in terms of responding to HIV and AIDS.

“We have health and social services in the most rural and isolated parts of the world,” he said.

For example, Caritas Australia, in partnership with Catholic Health Services in Papua New Guinea, is helping prevention campaigns in that country.

The Pre-Conference will be held on 18-19 July 2014.