Monday, September 8, 2003
Lloyd Steffen, University Chaplain and Professor of Religion Studies, recently moderated a workshop in the official program of the 56th Annual DPI/NGO Conference of the United Nations, which was organized around the theme "Human Security and Dignity: Fulfilling the Promise of the United Nations." The workshop session, entitled "Faith-Based Education Programmes to Prevent HIV/AIDS," was organized by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and dealt with the positive role religious communities can play in AIDS education and prevention. The session focused on one initiative in South Africa, a program called "Keeping it Real!", which has proven successful in its pilot phase and may prove to be a model for other education efforts in sub-Saharan Africa, where 29 million of the world's 42 million HIV/AIDS infected persons live. The session will be available in October as an audio file through the United Nations "DPI/NGO" web site.