Main description:

The search for common ground in combatting HIV - Forty years after the advent of HIV and AIDS, many people around the world living with HIV still endure assaults on their dignity and basic human rights - from stigma and discrimination to denial of legal protection and even medical care. Bringing together people living with, working with, researching, or personally affected by HIV or AIDS, this volume developed by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA) and its global partners draws directly from on-the-ground experiences elicited from frontline actors in the churches and agencies. Their insights and reflections are always lively, sometimes uncomfortable, and often deeply moving. Dignity, Freedom, and Grace broaches the truly tough questions faced by those with HIV and those who work directly or programmatically with them. It offers strong, substantive discussions of the meaning of human rights, its relation to the more religious language of church traditions, the contextual wisdom of key populations most at risk for HIV, and the best practices and theological reflection of Christian churches. Gillian Paterson is a research fellow and visiting lecturer at Heythrop College, University of London. She co-ordinates the Catholic Network for Population and Development. She has worked in the field of HIV and AIDS since the mid-1990s, often with the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and the World Council of Churches. She is the author of books and articles on faith and health, especially in relation to HIV. Callie Long is a media development practitioner, journalist, and organizational communicator with a special focus on conflict, health and AIDS advocacy. She is working on her doctorate in the Humanities at Brock University in Canada, researching HIV-related stigma within a framework of trauma theory.