Fight Inaction on AIDS

On Sept. 11, the world shook with a tragedy so powerful that it seemed to overwhelm our senses. Since Sept. 11, a quieter tragedy has taken place: a quarter of a million people have died of AIDS. As we spend tens of billions of dollars to address terrorism and the aftermath of the attacks, let us not be deaf to the oft-ignored pleas of two generations of Africans—and increasing numbers of youth in Asia and worldwide—who face wholesale destruction from AIDS. Fully half of South Africa’s teenagers are projected to die of AIDS before reaching the age of 35. Congress is now considering a $1 billion pledge for global AIDS. We must ensure that it passes.

HIV has now infected more than 60 million people, 22 million of whom have already died of AIDS. If it continues to kill at its present rate, it will surpass the death toll of the Black Plague within two years. For many years, this devastation was greeted by an eerie silence. Just in the last year, however, there is hope: by August, the cost of AIDS treatment in developing countries had dropped to $250 per year; countries across Africa and around the world have begun to shake off their apathy and denial and plan serious national AIDS programs; and the UN’s Special Session on AIDS in June led to $1.4 billion in contributions to a newly-created Global Fund for AIDS and Health. This isn’t enough—about $7-10 billion annually will be needed for a serious global response to AIDS—but it was the largest international pledge for AIDS programs in history.

This momentum is now in danger. The United States was the first country to offer money for the Global Fund; although its initial pledge of $200 million was appropriately derided as insignificant given the scope of the crisis, it did help spark a round of contributions. More money was expected soon. Now, unless action is taken, it seems unlikely that Congress will even appropriate the $200 million it has already committed. Since Sept. 11. Congressional aides dealing with foreign affairs have been entirely focused on terrorist attacks, the rising tide of letters and phone calls from constituents concerned by AIDS slowed to a trickle, and the world’s attention moved from the ongoing crisis of the epidemic to the acute crisis of war. There is no conflict between dealing with terrorists and dealing with AIDS; in fact, appropriate funding for AIDS efforts is exactly the sort of humanitarian leadership that engenders goodwill towards the United States in a time when goodwill is an urgent need. However, AIDS funding needs champions. Until the momentum of this summer is rebuilt, billions more dollars are committed to fight AIDS, and these dollars used appropriately on the ground for prevention, treatment, support for orphans and research, 8,000 people will continue to die every day.

Hope continues. On Oct. 10, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and a bipartisan group of Representatives sent a letter to President Bush calling for $1 billion in U.S. contributions to the Global AIDS and Health Fund. The last U.S. contribution was matched seven times over by other countries; if the same thing happens with this contribution, the world will have sufficient funds to mount a full effort to stop AIDS. To get the President’s support for this initiative, hundreds of members of Congress will have to sign the letter. Members of Congress will only sign this letter if they hear from their constituents that it is something they support. Legislators do not want to appear insensitive to the country’s grief and fury following the Sept. 11 attacks. We must show them that our grief and fury extend from the loud tragedies to the quiet tragedies as well.

A billion dollars can put a million people on AIDS treatment for a year, pay for school, food and housing for a million AIDS orphans, and buy tens of billions of condoms to prevent millions of new infections. Help make it happen. If you have 10 seconds, send an e-mail to your members of Congress. If you have one minute, call your representatives to support the $1 billion for AIDS. If you have five minutes, write a letter to Congress. Willing to spend two hours to save lives? Call the local office of your member of Congress and schedule a visit to speak to your Congressional representative herself or to a member of her staff. And, if you have the dedication to make a difference on a larger scale, get involved in a group like the Student Global AIDS Campaign, RESULTS or the Health GAP Coalition and do some grassroots mobilizing in your own community.

It might not seem like a single letter or phone call can save lives. It can. In our age of political disconnection, very few people take the time to write a letter; still fewer write about issues overseas. A single heartfelt message to the right person at the right time can lead to another all-important signature on the request to President Bush. The fight against AIDS has no opponents in Congress, but it has no champions—so we must be the champions. We must flood the capital with our tears for the victims of AIDS and with our outrage over inaction. We must break the deadly silence of AIDS by raising our voices to call for its end. Despite tragedies, loud and quiet, there is hope.

Benjamin M. Wikler ’03 and Wilson R. S. Prichard ’03 are Student Global AIDS Campaign national organizers. For more information, see www.stopglobalaids.org.