Bangalore, May 28 (IANS) Spiritual leaders from across the country will converge here Sunday and prepare an action plan to fight HIV/AIDS. Apart from about 68 spiritual leaders from across India, about 200 delegates, including representative of UN agencies, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), state AIDS control societies and NGOs will be participating in the two-day Hindu leaders’ caucus.

The ‘Faith in Action’ meet is being jointly organised by the Art of Living and the UN AIDS Control programme (Unaids).

Founder of Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Samarpanananda Giri from Puri and Manoj Kumar Dwivedi of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir will be among the spiritual leaders present.

“Faith-based organisations can play an effective role in positively influencing the mindset of leaders and society towards those living with HIV/AIDS,” said Richa Chopra, the coordinator of the event.

She said religious leaders could create more awareness about the issue and emphasise the importance of progressive education, morals and ethics to prevent spread of the epidemic.

The conclave will focus on building a platform for Hindu religious leaders to work out a coherent action plan to combat HIV/AIDS.