Public Health | Global | How Faith Matters

A Conversation with Religions for Peace and Jacek Tyszko of UNAIDS

Mr. Jacek Tyszko, UNAIDS July 16, 2020

Mr. Jacek Tyszko, Senior Programme Advisor of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and faith-based engagement, offers insight into the effective response of religious communities and leaders to public health crises. In this episode of “How Faith Matters,” Mr. Tyszko reflects on the quintessentially global nature of both the AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby underlining the need to engage all possible partners and influencers, including religious communities, leaders and organisations.

Leveraging his experience in coordinating and delivering the global HIV/AIDS response, Mr. Tyszko shares that in order to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, “we cannot afford to ignore faith communities.”

Although faith communities play an essential role in the response to public health crises, religious beliefs and traditions have occasionally been used to incite stigma, discrimination and violence. When engaged, however, the incredible capacity of religious leaders, according to Mr. Tyszko, is “helping in finding solutions” to these cross-cutting challenges. Faith leaders then become champions of an inclusive public health response that builds bridges and “promotes evidence, human dignity and human rights … in accordance with God.”

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