Dear Editor,

I saw an advertisement on television some time ago of a church asserting that a man was healed from HIV when the church prayed for him, I immediately became intrigued.

Jamaica is often deemed a religious country, as evidenced by our having the most churches per square mile in the world. Clearly, faith is a vital part of how we engage with different issues in society; however, is there a point at which over-reliance on spirituality becomes harmful? Did Jesus really ‘cure’ you of HIV?

The Jamaican Network of Seropositives (JN+) has been supporting People Living with HIV (PLHIV) for over two decades, and within that period we heard many horror stories of people going to the church after diagnosis and the pastor laying hands on them and proclaiming that they are healed. These people then stop taking their medication and their health declines almost to the point of death. The challenge with this is that most churches encourage members to take medication for any other illness/virus; however, as soon as it comes to HIV, they lay hands and poof, no more HIV!

The Jamaica Anti-Discrimination System for HIV has collected cases in which after a person has disclosed his/her status to his/her pastor in confidence, the clergy member would involuntarily disclose that member’s status to the wider congregation under the guise of praying for healing. Clergy members have even gone to the extent of telling people living with HIV that they would have to be baptised last because they don’t want to “infect” the water.

Years of evidence have indicated that the Church has contributed to the spread of misinformation and HIV-related discrimination. For example, the Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviours, and Practices Survey (2012) indicated that highly religious people are less likely to have conversations about safe sex practices and sexually transmitted infections.

The purpose of this is not to discourage PLHIV from engaging with the Church and/or spirituality. In fact, the Church has an important role to play in achieving epidemic control. These are some of the strategies that the Church could employ to address sexual and reproductive health and rights issues among its constituents:

• partner with civil society and other organisations and commit to sharing accurate information on the transmission and management of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases;

• use its influence and platform to appeal to and build the dignity of Persons Living with HIV;

• understand the importance of keeping people’s health status confidential. Not everything needs to make it to the prayer group.

Like the apostle Paul, I’d like to admonish the Church to consider that God can heal people through science!

Jaemar Johnson

Policy and advocacy officer

Jamaican Network of Seropositives

policyofficer@jasero.onmicrosoft.com