Leaders of the global response to HIV and AIDS who gathered in Montreal for the International AIDS Conference praised faith leaders for their contribution to fighting the four decade-old pandemic.
“Faith leaders have helped to keep us on track. You have provided hope to millions of people living with HIV and to HIV activists with the power of prayer and faith when we needed it the most,” Vinay Saldanha, director of the US liaison office for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), told a pre-conference gathering of interfaith religious leaders on July 27.
UNAIDS’ report to the biennial international conference underscored how years of steady progress against the disease had struggled during the crisis provoked by COVID-19, by mass displacement and several international conflicts.