USAID Announces Funding for the Inter Religious Campaign Against Malaria in Mozambique
June 11th, 2006 by sfuqua
“Malaria does not discriminate between Muslims and Christians."
The Inter Religious Campaign Against Malaria in Mozambique, working with the
Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., USA, was recently awarded
a major grant to fight malaria from the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID).
Officials of the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Thursday
major funding to combat malaria in Mozambique, Malawi, Senegal, and Rwanda.
The funds, granted as part of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI),
are part of a five year $1.2 billion program for malaria prevention and treatment
throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Similar funds have already been allocated to
Angola, Tanzania and Uganda.
Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane, Anglican Bishop of Lebombo, Mozambique, spoke at
the announcement on a panel entitled Fighting Malaria in Africa: Challenges
and Partnerships. He is working closely with Washington National Cathedral’s
Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation which supports the Inter Religious
Campaign against Malaria in Mozambique (IRCMM). The IRCMM is co-chaired by Bishop
Sengulane along with the Christian Council of Mozambique and Roman Catholic,
Muslim, Seventh-day Adventist and Assembly of God leaders.
Long known as a peacemaker (he negotiated the peace between the Frelimo government
and the Renamo rebels in 1992), Bishop Sengulane has focused his recent efforts
on integrating the church into issues of economic justice, including health
and education. “Before creating human beings, God who is a good mathematician,
started by putting on the ground the resources necessary to their survival,”
he says. “The principal reason of the poverty of our populations is thus
primarily the bad distribution of these riches.”
With malaria killing an African child every 30 seconds, prevention and treatment
of this mosquito-born disease is imperative. Bishop Sengulane says religious
organizations can play a pivotal role, “If we pool our resources, the
faith community can reach all over the country. We are in every village all
over the country. We go where government cannot go”.
Twenty-six Christian, Muslim and other faith leaders came together in Maputo,
Mozambique on April 19, 2006 to formalize their commitment to collaborate against
malaria and to establish the Inter Religious Campaign against Malaria in Mozambique.
Co-Chairs of the IRCMM are leaders of the Christian Council of Mozambique comprising
22-member churches, which includes Anglicans, United Methodists, Presbyterian
Churches, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Roman Catholic Church, the Assemblies
of God, the Islamic Congress of Mozambique, and the Islamic Council of Mozambique.
Dr. Mouzinho Saide, Mozambique’s health director said on April 19, 2006,
in Maputo, “Civil society has the responsibility to participate in the
communication efforts to change attitudes towards malaria. Specifically we expect
religious leaders to use their knowledge and spiritual power in helping transform
the efforts of the struggle against malaria in a way that is culturally appropriate
for our people”.
All 26 religious leaders signed a statement that reads:
“We, Mozambican Religious Leaders Met at the S. Cipriano School on
April 19, 2006, in the context of the celebration of the Africa Malaria Day
(25 April). We are deeply shocked for the continuing loss of human lives in
the country due to malaria. Having in mind our communities’ sensibilities
inside and outside the country, with regard to the protection of human lives
put by God in Mozambique, we commit ourselves to strengthen the fight against
malaria as Mozambican citizens, and also as God-fearing men and women.”
The religious leaders then committed to mobilizing resources to support various
actions in prevention, treatment and research.
Mr. Hassan Makda, chair of the Mozambique Islamic Congress and co-chair of
the IRCMM, says that issues of social justice can be addressed by religious
organizations without being “religious.” “Malaria does not
discriminate between Muslims and Christians. Our whole society suffers when
Mozambican children and pregnant women die. We embrace collaboration with other
faiths against malaria. Working together against the common problem of malaria
binds us also in other ways.”
Bishops Sengulane and Mr. Makda called a Working Group to action in support
of their efforts to urgent action on March 16, 2006. Members of the Working
Group include the United Methodist Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Episcopal
Relief and Development, Catholic Medical Mission Board, Population and the Friends
of Charities Association.
Advisors to the Working Group include Centers for Disease Control, National
Institutes of Health, UN Foundation, and USAID. The Working Group is convened
and staffed by the Washington National Cathedral’s Center for Global Justice
and Reconciliation. The Center, which operates under the auspices of the National
Cathedral’s Cathedral College, is organized to promote global justice
and reconciliation through inter religious and ecumenical collaboration. Drawing
upon the biblical imperative to end poverty as a requirement for justice, the
Center forges partnerships among Christian denominations, with interfaith partners,
governments, NGOs and the private sector to address the root causes of human
suffering.
General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation Dr. Ishmael Noko, who was
among the leaders of the September 2005 Consultation on Global Poverty calling
for interfaith partnership to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, reiterates
the importance of collaboration. “This commitment to pool capacities and
resources for humanitarian relief of suffering from malaria is exactly the kind
of interfaith partnership we imagined when we called for urgent action by the
worldwide faith community in the ‘Call to Partnership’ consensus
document delivered to the UN General Assembly on the eve of its opening meeting.”
“Speaking from a public health perspective, and as a member of the Working
Group to support IRCMM, I am tremendously hopeful that by combining the extensive
congregational resources of the various faith communities we can make a significant
and lasting impact on malaria in Mozambique,” remarked Dr. Allan Handysides,
Director of Health Ministries of the World Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Among the Center’s current priorities is forging inter religious collaborations
to address the scourge of malaria. Although preventable, malaria is the leading
cause of death throughout the world. Closer collaboration between religious
centers, health organizations, and government programs will increase the effectiveness
and reach of anti-malaria programs. The Center has established an Inter Religious
Working Group on Malaria and was considered by many to be instrumental in assisting
Mozambique in gaining anti-malaria funding.
