Malawian Pastors Warned From Misleading People Living With HIV/AIDS.

In Malawi, religious organization wants pastors who stop people living with HIV/AIDS from visiting hospitals and instead tells them they will be healed by the power of God to stop the act and be arrested if found to be passing such a message to their desperate followers.

This comes up after a report recently that up to five people died after a pastor asked them to stop taking Antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs on the basis that God would heal them through prayer.
According to stats on Averts website, Malawi’s HIV prevalence is one of the highest in the world, with 10.3% of the population living with HIV.

Malawi accounts for 4% of the total number of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 1,000,000 Malawians were living with HIV in 2013 and 48,000 Malawians died from HIV-related illnesses in the same year.

Addressing the press, Malawi Interfaith Aids Association Executive Director Robert Ngaiyaye said that there is a need for government to do more to prevent faith leaders from encouraging people with HIV to stop taking their Antiretroviral drugs, saying this is a violation of their rights to health and threat to their life.