Survey of Stigma and Discrimination amongst the Hong Kong Clergy 2003

Abstract

Twenty years after the first HIV case was identified in Hong Kong, most local churches remain very silent about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Up till now, only one faith-based organization has included HIV/AIDS education and prevention services in its mission. The silence of the Church could be due to either lack of knowledge and absence of appropriate training programs within the Church, or to stigma and misconceptions held by individual members of the clergy. However, sooner or later, the clergy will have to respond - in their own churches or in the community at large - to parishioners who have become infected with HIV themselves or are personally affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in other ways. In view of the above situation, we designed this questionnaire survey to identify the AIDS knowledge of the clergy in Hong Kong, and to gather their views on AIDS-related issues relevant to the local church setting, in the hope of indicating future directions for further training and education for the local clergy and parishioners.