“An upsurge in ‘new generation’ churches that claim to be able to heal or perform miracles is having a damaging effect on Liberia’s progress in fighting HIV/AIDS, a government official said [Tuesday],” Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. “Speaking in the week before World AIDS Day, health ministry official David Logan said there had been a dramatic increase in new generation churches that link their preaching to prevailing local beliefs in healing or miracle cures, with the result that people with HIV were not seeking proper medical treatment,” the news service continues. “Liberia … has around 18,000 people who need antiretroviral therapy (ART),” with only 6,000 currently receiving ART, the news service notes. “The national program is now working closely with these new churches so that they direct known HIV cases to our designated centers for medical care while they provide spiritual support,” Logan said, according to Reuters (Hussain, 11/26).