Groups Call for AIDS Activism

The Unite Against AIDS Summit team released a “Call to Action” statement today challenging youth to fight the growing threat of AIDS, a prelude to its April conference on HIV/AIDS.

The one-page statement—which refers to AIDS as the “pandemic [that] threatens us all”—is to be posted on the group’s website today, according to Sarika P. Bansal ’06, one of the four co-writers of the Call to Action document and co-directors of the Unite Against AIDS Summit team.

“Activists of all ages have been instrumental in affecting change in the political response to the HIV/AIDS crisis... Within the last few years, youth have succeeded in calling public and legislative attention to the global crisis,” the letter stated.

Jack P. McCambridge ’06, also a co-writer and co-director of the summit, praised the Call to Action, saying it “best phrases what we are trying to do...to draw as many interested and excited participants as possible.”

The summit, entitled “Unite Against AIDS: HIV/AIDS in Africa and the African Diaspora” will bring local students together on April 23 to examine the HIV/AIDS crisis and inspire youth, ages 15 to 24, to combat the disease.

The summit is a collaborative effort of several student groups including the Harvard Black Men’s Forum (BMF), Harvard AIDS Coalition, Harvard African Student’s Association, and Harvard Concert Commission.

“All these different student groups have come together to say that we are very interested in affecting change and that we want to invest ourselves in making something happen,” said McCambridge. “You don’t see this so much at Harvard, diverse groups coming together to address a problem and working for a sustained period of time.”

Kwame Owusu-Kesse ’06, president of the BMF, described the Unite Against AIDS Summit effort as “different groups working together to inspire cooperation across racial, ethnic, and national boundaries.”

Owusu-Kesse added that he sees the summit as a chance to “mobilize black students and youth toward HIV/AIDS advocacy,” he explained, noting that black youth have historically been under represented in the fight against AIDS.

According to Owusu-Kesse, the idea for the conference originated back in November of 2003.

The summit has already received support from many organizations outside of Harvard, including the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Global Fund.

In addition, Nobel Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu and Dubois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., among others, have joined the Unite Against AIDS Summit Advisory Board.

McCambridge described the members of the advisory board as “unbelievably prestigious and impressive.”

Organizers of the summit expect 800 to 1,000 youth to attend the conference. Panel topics will feature topics ranging from “A Man’s World?: HIV/AIDS Masculinity, and Homophobia in the Black World,” to “Trouble in Paradise: HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.”

“Education, inspiration, and action” are the three key goals of the summit, said Bansal.

While other conferences serve to educate attendees, she emphasized that April’s HIV/AIDS conference will specifically focus on encouraging people to act.