Department of Religious Studies & Philosophy, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
Glob Public Health. 2010;5(6):611-25. doi: 10.1080/17441690903463619.
Increasingly, faith-based organisations are being asked to participate in HIV prevention and care activities. This paper presents formative research on HIV/AIDS prevention messages, activities and policies within six religious institutions in Cross River State, Nigeria, at urban and rural sites. Data collection methods included a review of written HIV policies gathered from national church and mosque offices and 48 key informant interviews. The study highlights differences in messages between mainstream and Pentecostal Christians and Muslims. Although all groups stated a core message of abstinence outside marriage and faithfulness within marriage, Pentecostal churches tended to have more messages of punishment and condemnation for people infected with HIV. Urban churches/mosques tended to have more HIV resources and programmes. Attitudes towards condom use varied by denomination and individual; although few saw a role for religious institutions to promote condoms there were exceptions voiced. These findings indicate that religious organisations are already playing a role in HIV prevention but their responses are not uniform. Public health organisations and policy-makers should be aware of these denominational differences as they engage with religious institutions and leaders in HIV prevention and care.
越来越多的宗教组织被要求参与艾滋病预防和护理活动。本文介绍了在尼日利亚十字河州的六个宗教机构中，对城市和农村地区的艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防信息、活动和政策进行的形成性研究。数据收集方法包括审查从国家教堂和清真寺办公室收集的关于艾滋病毒的书面政策，以及对 48 名主要知情者进行访谈。该研究强调了主流和五旬节派基督教徒和穆斯林之间信息的差异。尽管所有群体都表示，核心信息是婚姻之外的禁欲和婚姻内的忠诚，但五旬节派教堂往往有更多针对感染艾滋病毒的人的惩罚和谴责信息。城市教堂/清真寺往往有更多的艾滋病毒资源和方案。对使用避孕套的态度因教派和个人而异；尽管很少有人认为宗教机构在推广避孕套方面有作用，但也有例外。这些发现表明，宗教组织已经在艾滋病毒预防方面发挥了作用，但它们的反应并不统一。公共卫生组织和政策制定者在与宗教机构和领导人参与艾滋病毒预防和护理时，应该意识到这些教派差异。
