Parishioners’ millions of steps for HIV awareness
Members of two Lochaber churches walked a staggering 4,000,000 steps in a month to raise awareness of HIV.
The group from Duncansburgh MacIntosh Parish Church in Fort William and Kilmonivaig Church near Spean Bridge wore red laces in their shoes and boots as they went about their daily lives to support the Church of Scotland HIV Programme’s All Tied Up campaign.
One man, who had a liver transplant 20 years ago, walked 93,598 steps, while Trevor Jones walked around 700,000 steps along the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Portugal.
Debbie Brown did 464,853 steps simply going about her work in a care home.
The 13-strong group, which also included a postman and a health worker, raised £590 for the HIV Programme, which has amassed around £1.8 million over the last 17 years. It supports 16 projects in 13 countries, including Scotland, by helping to provide nutritional support, home-based care, palliative care, community-based orphan care, awareness raising and education programmes.
There are an estimated 5,881 people living with HIV in Scotland. Reverend Richard Baxter, minister of Duncansburgh MacIntosh linked with Kilmonivaig Church, said: ‘My 300,000 steps were at the lower end of the scale. I was amazed at the number of people who got involved. Because so many HIV and Aids projects help with nutrition to ensure anti-retroviral drugs are effective and infections fought off, we also used this as our Harvest Project.
‘I’m delighted at the level of support from the congregation for this important work.’
Last year, Mr Baxter took an HIV mouth swab test to highlight the need to overcome stigma as a barrier to saving lives.
He said the self-testing kit, which has been made available in parts of Africa including Malawi, could help stop new infections and unnecessary deaths.
Global new HIV infections have declined by just 18 per cent in the past seven years, from 2.2 million in 2010 to 1.8 million in 2017.
Although this is nearly half the number of new infections compared to the 3.4 million peak in 1996, the decline is not quick enough to reach the target of fewer than 500,000 by 2020.
Carol Finlay of the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council, who has responsibility for the HIV Programme, thanked all the participants for supporting the All Tied Up campaign, which has so far generated around £4,000.
‘This phenomenal effort by church members has not just helped raise money to support partner projects in Scotland and overseas but has helped raise awareness of the continuing global issue of HIV and the impact on individuals, families and communities,’ she said.