Latest News #246
June 5, 2003

The following news concerns Angola.

Bible Society in Angola joins fight against HIV/AIDS

From left to right: Front: Mr David N’kosi (Executive Secretary of BSAngola) holding a copy of the Scripture Portion Living in Hope: Help from the Scriptures for Coping with HIV/AIDS; Mr António Neto (Executive Secretary of ANASO). Back row: the Rev Antunes Huambo (Coordinador do Programa Eclesial de Luta Contra Sida em Angola), Miss Elizabeth Saúl (AALSIDA – Associação Angolana de Luta Contra o Sida). Luanda, Angola. Photo: Francois Sieberhagen, UBS Media Consultant (ANG03DJ-4)

LUANDA, Angola — The Bible Society in Angola has been operating in a more positive climate since the civil war that raged for 27 years between the government and UNITA rebels came to an end in April 2002 (see Latest News #201). However, there are still significant challenges for the Society to address as the country embarks on the long process of physical restructuring and social healing.

One of the most pressing needs in Angola is to tackle HIV/AIDS, which has been spreading rapidly since the end of the civil war. Increased population mobility, when combined with the existing factors of 85 per cent illiteracy and widespread poverty, has led to the number of people who are HIV-positive or have AIDS rising to more than 500,000, according to United Nations estimates, out of a total population of around 12 million.

The Bible Society’s ministry to HIV/AIDS patients is set to enter a new phase following the appointment of Executive Secretary David N’kosi to the Angola Network of AIDS Service Organisations (ANASO), an umbrella association of around 40 NGOs and church groups which are active in this field. ANASO’s members are particularly targeting young people, hoping to educate them in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

António Neto, ANASO’s Executive Secretary, welcomed the fact that the Bible Society is distributing copies of the Scripture Portion Living in Hope: Help From the Scriptures for Coping with HIV/AIDS. This Portion is already being made widely available in printed form across southern Africa by Bible Societies and partner agencies in countries including Zambia (see Latest News #214), Zimbabwe (see Latest News #114 and #190) and Botswana (see World Report 353/24 and 368/20).

Mr Neto also urged the Bible Society to make this Portion available in audio cassette format as soon as possible in order to bring comfort from God’s Word to those who cannot read it for themselves. The audio cassette version of Living in Hope is already available in South Africa (see Latest News #224) and Lesotho (see Latest News #219), but the speed with which the Bible Society in Angola will be able to make it available will depend on budgetary considerations.