Salvation and AIDS drug policies
The Bush administration on Sunday signaled its willingness to consider approving and distributing generic antiretrovirals, a positive step toward making effective HIV treatment more available and affordable in places such as Africa and the Caribbean.As someone who spent several years in HIV/AIDS ministry, it's gratifying to see an apparent shift in U.S. policy towards AIDS drugs for developing nations.
I'm not naive enough to think access to these drugs will resolve the multiple problems associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
But I do think making these treatments more available can and will bring more abundant life to many people infected with HIV and, by extension, to their families.
The silence of faith communities about this issue--the fact that for decades U.S. AIDS policies have offered more protection and benefit to pharmeceutical companies than to infected people--has puzzled me.
As a Christian, I see a close connection between health and salvation; the root of the Greek word for "salvation" in the New Testament literally means "to make whole, complete, restored," and the English word "salvation" itself comes from the Latin salve, to heal.
Effective medication is one agent of God's grace in the world, a healing resource that faith communities have a vested interest in making available to all who can benefit, regardless of cost.
Surely public advocacy for effective, less expensive, and readily available treatments for all illnesses, both in our local communities and around the world, is a function of pastoral care?
From my perspective, such activity would fall under the "advocating," "healing," and "liberating" functions of pastoral care that are widely acknowledged and promoted by American and European pastoral theologians.
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Tuesday, May 18, 2004
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