NEW DELHI (UCAN) -- The Catholic Church in India has launched an unprecedented plan to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS amid fears of a pandemic.

The Church plan involves seminaries, formation houses, health-care and educational institutions, and parishes in all 149 dioceses, say officials of the Health Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.

Commission secretary Father Alex Vadakumthala told UCA News March 20 that the plan focuses both on creating awareness of AIDS prevention and caring for the infected. It also aims to fight the social stigma patients face, he said.

The commission launched its "Concerted Action Against HIV/AIDS in India" on March 19 in New Delhi. Senior representatives of secular organizations as well as the Indian government attended.

A major need is to develop leaders to carry out the Church plan, said G.D. Ravindran, a technical adviser to the bishops' health commission on AIDS. The country representative of the New-York-based Catholic Medical Mission Board also said a new course is being developed for seminaries and Religious formation houses to help Religious take up this leadership role. He added that the course content is still being prepared with the help of experts and a "trial run" is expected to be carried out by July.

Father Vadakumthala said the bishops' commission plans to help introduce appropriate "teaching material" in all Catholic schools and sponsor teachers to attend a specialist course on HIV/AIDS run by New Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Open University. The commission, with the help of local bishops, also plans to have parish-level training programs for youth and women's groups, he added.

According to the priest, the nationwide effort was prompted by warnings that India could be included in a "second wave" of HIV/AIDS infections.

According to a study released in 2002 by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, the first HIV/AIDS wave hit eastern and southern Africa and a second wave threatens countries including China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia.

Indian government statistics say the country has 4.58 million people infected with HIV. NGOs, however, say the actual number is several times higher. India's National AIDS Control Organization estimated an average of 1,600 new cases each day in 2002. Media reports cite data indicating that more than 85 percent of infections in India are caused by sexual contact.

Against such a background, representatives of the National AIDS Control Organization and several other agencies declared their support for the Church efforts at the launch of the Church plan.

Father Vadakumthala said the Church plans to set up at least one center for dealing with HIV/AIDS in each of its 12 ecclesiastical regions in India.

To coordinate the entire effort, the bishops' health commission plans to set up over the next few months a secretariat at the Church-run St. John's Medical College in Bangalore, southern India, according to Ravindran.

Elaborating on the Church plan at the launching, the health commission adviser said it includes providing medicine through Church institutions and training hospital personnel on antenatal treatment and home-based care for infected people.

He also said the Church will train laboratory technicians and set up specialized labs. Other plans include organizing regional training for students and faculty of 140 Church-run nursing schools and starting a counseling service in June through e-mail as well as a toll-free phone number.

Bishop Bernard Moras of Belgaum, chairperson of the bishops' commission, explained that action will be at multiple levels to sensitize Church people, who he noted are feeling the impact of the disease today. "So many people with HIV are asking me for help every day," he said.

The bishop warned that a rising number of AIDS cases means not only more patients but also more orphans, increased health-care costs and an adverse impact on the economy. He said no single policy is effective in a country of more than a billion people of diverse cultures.

Citing studies, the bishop said 65 percent of people living in Indian villages have not even heard of HIV/AIDS. Government statistics indicate 72 percent of the population lives in villages.

Contrasting the challenges with the Church's strength, Bishop Moras said 85 percent of the 4,745 Church-run hospitals and dispensaries across the country are in rural areas. The Church in India also has 40 hospitals and health-care units exclusively for AIDS patients, other officials said.

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