The Russian Orthodox Church launched a new programme Tuesday in the fight against the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic making its way across Russia.
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The Church’s initiative has been praised by government officials, as well as UN experts, as an important contribution by civil society.

The praise comes amid criticism from other corners for the Church’s slow response to the growing crisis, saying that the programme was long overdue.

As part of the new programme, the Church will work side by side with HIV/AIDS patients and their families offering spiritual guidance. Priests and nuns will also be stationed at in hospitals to offer hands-on help to hospital staff and HIV/AIDS patients, reported the Associated Press.

Priests were urged by Church leaders to treat people infected with HIV/AIDS “as any other person suffering from some serious illness” and to teach greater tolerance among their congregations for sufferers of the illness.

Church leaders also called for churches to set up their own hotlines for HIV/AIDS sufferers and for nuns and other members of the Church to go into the hospitals to help take care of ill patients.

Priest Vladimir Shmal insisted that the programme’s help extended to anyone in need of their help and was not restricted simply to Orthodox Christians.

The Church programme urges control and prevention of the illness by educating people on religious morals as well as refraining from sexual relations with multiple partners and homosexuality.

The alarming growth in people being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Russia has been attributed to weak anti-drug and prevention programmes. Experts also estimate that the actual number of sufferers of HIV/AIDS is three times official government statistics at more than 1 million.