Diaspora
Fifty Pediatric AIDS Corps doctors arrived in sub-Saharan Africa this month to work at a network of clinics treating HIV-positive children in sub-Saharan Africa. The doctors are part of an innovative medical care, treatment and research and social support strategy by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Baylor College of Medicine at Houston. “Innovative strategies will be necessary to scale up the care and treatment of hundreds of thousands of HIV-infected children and families across sub-Saharan Africa. We believe that the Children's Clinical Centers of Excellence and Pediatric AIDS Corps will transform pediatric and family HIV/AIDS care in some of the world's hardest hit countries.” said Mark Kline, M.D., president of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, professor of pediatrics and chief of Retrovirology, Baylor College of Medicine. Kline announced that 50 Pediatric AIDS Corps physicians are on one-year assignments to treat children and train healthcare professionals. They will be based at children’s clinical centers in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Uganda and Burkina Faso and serve at the centers and in nearby rural areas as part of the $32 million SECURE THE FUTURE and Baylor program to send up to 250 doctors to Africa through 2010. An initiative of Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, SECURE THE FUTURE has been working on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa since 1999 – in partnership with government Ministries of Health, medical institutions, NGOs and other organizations – to create comprehensive approaches to fight HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS estimates that 2.3 million children under 15 years of age were living with HIV in 2005. Almost 90% of the world’s children living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, where fewer than 10% are being reached by basic support services. Other strategies include a program to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV (PMTCT) through a government hospital and 15 feeder clinics in rural Swaziland next month and the opening of two more children’s clinics in Uganda and Burkina Faso next year. “In the last 25 years of the fight against HIV/AIDS, we have seen many contributions by governments, corporations and foundations to bring treatment to people in need. However, as we gather here today, so much more needs to be done,” said Wainberg. “We need innovative approaches to treat the most vulnerable populations and also to bring access to treatment to the world’s most resource constrained locations.” Many programs have been dedicated to creating sustainable, replicable model programs for children, including a network of Children’s HIV/AIDS Clinical Centers of Excellence operated by the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative; co-funding with Baylor the Pediatric AIDS Corps to send 250 doctors to Africa over the next five years to treat an estimated 80,000 children and train local health care personnel; and operating a Community-Based Treatment Support center focused on PMTCT. Additional projects supporting children include education, psychosocial care and support for orphans and vulnerable children, training, food security and income-generating projects for caregivers; and community mobilizations to reduce stigma and foster testing. Because of the extreme burden of disease in this region and a limited ability to pay for HIV medicines, Bristol-Myers Squibb substantially lowered the price of its medications to a level that delivers no profit to the company in 2001. In July 2005 the company further reduced the price of pediatric formulations to significantly below cost to accelerate access to treatment for the millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa. The company also pledged that its patents would not stand in the way of inexpensive HIV/AIDS therapy being made available in sub-Saharan Africa. Funding for construction of the centers in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland was provided through Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation grants. Additional pediatric AIDS centers funded by the initiative will be opened in Burkina Faso and Uganda next year, and funds have been committed to build another two centers. Sebastian Wanless, M.B., Ch.B., PhD., senior medical director, SECURE THE FUTURE, pointed to a related effort in Swaziland where a prevalence rate of 33.4% was reported by UNAIDS in 2005. “We have successfully linked a community-based treatment support program dedicated to preventing mother-to-child-transmission of HIV with a pediatric HIV/AIDS clinical center to provide a coordinated continuum of care from pre-natal testing, through delivery to pediatric care.” The program begins at the Pilot Operational Research and Community-Based Program (PORECO) established by SECURE THE FUTURE in Mbabane, Swaziland, to provide PMTCT-Plus. Services include a clinic providing highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) when required, voluntary counseling and testing, and social services such as home visits, infant feeding counseling, nutrition and food security. This program is coordinated at the Baylor-Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Clinical Center of Excellence – Swaziland, which opened in Mbabane in February 2006. To further extend services aimed at reducing the new infection rate in infants, 10 Pediatric AIDS Corps physicians will be based at the clinical center in Mbabane and begin serving clinics in the area next month, according to Wanless. The PORECO Project will be replicated beginning next month at the Piggs Peak Government Hospital in Piggs Peak, Swaziland, and its 15 associated clinics in the rural northern Hhohho area. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation have committed $150 million to the initiative which includes medical care and research, community outreach and education and new infrastructure. Programs funded include public education aimed at prevention, training for physicians and other public health workers, home-based care strategies, interventions to aid orphans and other vulnerable children, clinical research and medical care.
Breakthrough Research
By Linda Villarosa
What if there was a pill that could be taken once a day to prevent the spread of HIV? That idea may not be as Orwellian as it sounds. Scientists are studying that idea, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PREP, as well as many other new innovations in HIV/AIDS prevention.
At a special session during the XVI International AIDS Conference called “Prevention: Proven Approaches and New Technologies,” Dr. Helene Gayle, president of the International AIDS Society, hosted a highly-anticipated panel of experts from around the world that took a hard look at the successes, failures and future of HIV prevention. All week, attendees at the XIV International AIDS Conference were buzzing about the newest forms of prevention—PREP, circumcision, microbicides and vaccines. Later in the day, the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, a consortium of respected experts, released a detailed report that examines new approaches to HIV prevention. “The data we are seeing this week highlight the urgent need to accelerate prevention research and expand the number of options available to us,” said Gayle, who is also co-chair of the prevention working group. Prevention has taken center stage at this conference, at least partly due to the attention on the issue from both of the Bills—Clinton and Gates—and the huge sums of money the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have funneled toward efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Over the past decade, the Gates’ have donated $1.9 billion to fight AIDS, and their new focus is on developing prevention approaches, including new medications and a vaccine. Attention toward prevention is desperately needed. In 2005, 4.1 million people were newly infected with HIV, and over 40 percent of those new infections in adults occurred in young people ages 15 to 24, the UNAIDS reports. The organization also estimates that HIV/AIDS prevention services reach only an estimated one in 10 of those in need. In the U.S., prevention policy is in near total disarray. Though the federal government vowed to cut the rate of new infections in half by 2005, the number has remained constant—40,000 new cases a year. African Americans represent half of new AIDS infections. One of the key ways to curtail the spread of HIV is through sex education. But that effort has been hampered in the U.S.—and around the world—by American policies that tie funding to the teaching of abstinence only in poor nations and in the U.S. “There is no solid evidence that abstinence only programs have any effect on HIV risk reduction,” says Dr. Judith D. Auerbach, vice president of public policy and program development at amfAR and a member of the prevention working group. “What we know that works is postponing the onset of intercourse, reducing the number of sex partners and increasing condom use. That is very different from saying you should never have sex outside of the context of heterosexual marriage.” Even as experts and philanthropists look beyond traditional methods of prevention toward new technologies, others stress that the only way to prevent the spread of HIV is through a combination approach that includes sex education, counseling and testing. “With all of the advances in prevention technology, we have to be careful to avoid the medicalization of prevention,” said Dr. Cristina Pimenta, executive director of the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association, who took part in the prevention panel. “Potentially promising biomedical interventions, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, circumcision and microbicides are not magic solutions. They should be considered complementary, not as stand-alone interventions.” The gold standard of HIV prevention is a vaccine that would help the body fight off the virus. Second choice: A vaccine that works like antiretroviral medication to suppress the amount of virus circulating in the body and lower the risk of someone who is positive transmitting the virus to a sexual partner. An effective vaccine, however, is a long way off. Several years ago, the only candidate to complete the full course of clinical trials was found to be ineffective. Thirty HIV vaccine candidates are currently being studied, but experts predict that an effective vaccine is at least 10 years away. Says Dr. Helene Gayle: “We know we will have a vaccine someday, but we have stopped predicting whether it’s five years, 10 years, 15 years away.” Take a look at three of the most promising new prevention technologies: Circumcision How it works: The surface of the foreskin of the penis contains cells that are highly susceptible to HIV infection. Removing the foreskin may reduce the risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV during sexual intercourse. What the research says: A trial of over 3,000 South African participants found that men who were circumcised had a 60 percent lower risk of acquiring HIV from their female partners than uncircumcised men. Three more large-scale circumcision trials are underway in Africa with results due in 2007. Pros: Circumcision is a one-time procedure that could offer a life-time benefit. Drawbacks: It must be performed by a trained practitioner, and no matter who does it, it hurts. Circumcision has been shown to reduce female-to-male transmission, but more research is needed to know if it reduces male-to-female transmission which is the more urgent problem. Bottom line: Used with other prevention methods it could lower the risk of HIV transmission. Circumcision, however, would not make a huge difference in the U.S. where most men are already circumcised, though African-American rates are lower. Microbicides How they work: Microbicides are creams, foams, gels or other topical substances that a woman can apply to the vagina or rectum before sex to stop HIV infection. Some also prevent pregnancy. What the research says: There are currently 30 products in development and five are being studied for effectiveness in very large groups of women. Results could be available by 2008. Pros: Microbicides are controlled by women and can be used without her male partner’s knowledge or cooperation. Bottom Line: Getting a product out has been very slow. Even if current studies pinpoint a microbicide that works, it probably wouldn’t hit the market until 2010. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) How it works: Anti-retroviral drugs have prolonged the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. Some antiretroviral medication is also given to people—mainly health care workers--who have been exposed to HIV after exposure to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. Now scientists are studying whether an uninfected person can take a once-a-day antiretroviral pill to prevent contracting HIV. What the research says: Studies of monkeys have shown promise. Large-scale PREP trials are underway in Botswana, Peru and Thailand with results expected between 2007 and 2008. Pros: Taking medication to prevent HIV, like you might take the birth control pill, sounds great, especially for individuals involved in high-risk activities like sex workers and injecting drug users. Drawbacks: Medication is expensive and there isn’t enough for everyone who needs it for treatment. Plus, resistance is a problem with all kinds of antiretroviral drugs. Bottom Line: Even if studies show that PREP works, it’s best used in combination with other prevention methods, like condoms. Linda Villarosa is a freelance writer from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Promising Prevention Approaches
By Gordon Bell
Barack Obama, the only black U.S. senator, criticized South African leaders on Monday for their slow response to AIDS and urged President Thabo Mbeki to take a tougher stand against Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. South African AIDS activists say Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has caused confusion by pushing traditional medicines and a recipe of garlic, beetroot, lemon and African potatoes to combat AIDS while underplaying the role of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. Obama said Tshabalala-Msimang was making a terrible mistake. "On the treatment side the information being provided by the minister of health is not accurate," he told reporters outside an AIDS clinic in Cape Town's Khayelitsha township. "It is not an issue of Western science versus African science, it is just science and it's not right." Speaking later to journalists during the South African leg of an African tour, Obama said the government in neighboring Zimbabwe had been a disaster for that country. He urged Mbeki to take a more vocal stand against Mugabe, who he said continued to use conspiracies and plots to hold on to power. "South Africa has tried a strategy of quiet diplomacy...I don't think it has been as successful as it could have been. I would like to see a more vocal policy in respect of human rights and pressing the Mugabe government to right the ship." Obama told AIDS activists he planned to take an HIV test during the Kenya portion of his trip, winning immediate praise from South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "That would be very good," Tutu said after holding talks with Obama. "It encourages other people who may be less brave to want to do that. It also helps to deal with the question of the stigma." Activists at last week's global AIDS conference in Toronto were critical of South Africa's promotion of garlic and lemon as a solution to the AIDS crisis. The government yielded to pressure in 2003 and launched a public ARV program, which officials describe as one of the largest in the world. However, activists say drugs still only reach a fraction of those with AIDS, which kills more than 800 South Africans a day. Obama and Wife Take AIDS Test in Kenya AP NAIROBI, Kenya (Aug. 26, 2006) — U.S. Senator Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, publicly visited a clinic and took AIDS tests Saturday in Kenya, where fear and social stigmas have slowed progress in fighting the disease. Thousands of people gathered around the tiny mobile clinic in Kisumu, western Kenya, while Obama was tested in an effort to draw attention to Africa's AIDS epidemic. "If you know your status, you can prevent illness," said Obama, the only black legislator in the U.S. Senate. "You can avoid passing it to your children and your wives." Among Kenya's 32 million population, some 1.2 million people were infected with HIV as of 2004. Relief agencies say the national infection rate is 6.7 percent. Obama and his wife did not make public the results of their test, but said "we probably wouldn't be smiling" if the results were bad. Police held back crowds anxious to see the U.S. senator and son of one of their own. Local politicians appealed for calm as Obama visited the clinic, run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Some 700 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses in Kenya, most in the west of the country, though the numbers of infected patients have declined recently. In the Kisumu area, almost one in five is infected. Obama said the country's government has done a better job than many others in Africa of acknowledging the problem and discussing solutions. But people's reluctance to be tested has slowed progress. Earlier Saturday, thousands of well-wishers lined pot-holed roads to greet Obama as he began a journey to his ancestral home, Nyangoma-Kogelo, a tiny village in the rural west where his father grew up herding goats and attending classes in tin-roofed schools.,p> "I just want to say very quickly that I am so proud to come back home," Obama told the cheering crowds. "It means a lot to me that the people of my father, my grandfather, are here in such huge crowds." His father, also named Barack Obama, won a scholarship to a university in Hawaii, where he met and married Obama's mother. The two soon separated, however, and Obama's father returned to Kenya and worked as a government economist. His father died in a car crash in 1982, leaving three wives, six sons and a daughter. This was Obama's third visit, but his first since becoming senator of the U.S. state of Illinois in January 2005. His last visit was in 1995. Obama said he was looking forward to seeing his grandmother and uncle, who still live in the village, but that the trip was more than just a family reunion. Both his grandmother and uncle have visited him in the United States, and will get other chances to see him, he said. The Democratic Party senator said his relatives "understand that some of this is going to be dominated by spectacle, and they'll roll with it as I will roll with it." He also planned to visit a project he helps fund, which helps grandmothers find money to take care of children orphaned by AIDS. Copyright Reuters News Service
By Sharon Egiebor
(AUG. 21, 2006) ABC News will present a special documentary on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on African Americans. The documentary, “Out of Control: AIDS In Black America,” is the first comprehensive, national network television news documentary on the AIDS epidemic among African Americans. Terry Moran reports on the crisis in a special edition of “Primetime” on the ABC Television Network at 10 p.m., (E.D.T.) Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006. The documentary features commentary by noted African-American leaders and AIDS activists, including Phill Wilson, Executive Director of Black AIDS Institute; Debra Fraser-Howze, President/CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA), and The Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, chairman of the NBLCA’s board of directors and Senior Pastor of New York City’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, and LaJoyce Brookshire, author of the acclaimed bestseller “Faith Under Fire: Betrayed By A Thing Called Love.” "Out of Control is a hard hitting documentary on AIDS in Black America. Although hard to watch at times, this piece is a must see for anyone interested in the survival of Black people in America," Wilson said. Betsey Arledge, the show’s producer, said topics include the war on drugs, the disproportionate number of black men in prison, heterosexual HIV transmission, gays in the African-American community, the African-American church and relationships between men and women. Interviews were conducted in urban settings and in rural communities. Arledge said viewers should be outraged and hopefully energized to push for change following the program. “I hope everyone, African American and not, realize that we have an epidemic right in our backyard that is just as bad and caused by many of the same forces as that in Africa and that we’re paying no attention to it,” said Arledge. “It is criminal that we have all of these resources at our finger tips and some of our citizens are suffering this way.” The documentary shows that even with the development years ago of life-saving medications: •African Americans are dying, despite antiretroviral drugs clinically proven to increase life spans. •Children who were infected at birth are dying, even though methods exist to severely reduce the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission. •Two-thirds of all teenagers infected with HIV in America are African American. Philip A. Hilton, senior vice president for NBLCA, agreed. “For those of us who have been in it, sometimes you feel as if you’re preaching to the walls. When you tell people HIV is a crisis, a devastating crisis, you some how or another feel like you’re only talking to like-minded people and not making any headway,” Hilton said. “People talk about the first wave of the epidemic and the advocacy, activism and awareness when this was affecting gay, white men,” Hilton said. “Now that this disease is affecting African Americans disproportionately, you don’t have that same kind of interest anymore. I think it has to do with the fact that HIV and AIDS is primarily impacting a segment of our population that has historically been politically and economically marginalized.” Hilton added. “I often ask myself, ‘Are people saying to me, as a result, that my life has no value because I’m black.’ I ask myself all of the time, ‘How in God’s name can you sit idly by when 13 percent of the population is bearing a disproportionate portion of the epidemic?’ Something has to be terribly wrong with this picture. It is horrible and a moral outrage.” PJ Productions, the company that produced all of ABC Anchorman Peter Jennings’ documentaries, created the show. Jennings conducted several of the interviews and was planning to host the show. However, Jennings was diagnosed with cancer in spring 2005 and the project was put on hold. He died on Aug. 7, 2005. Arledge said ABC decided to finish the project and to include the footage of Jennings because his interviews with Black, gay men in Atlanta were integral to the program. Viewers will be told that reporting on the show began two years ago, before Jennings illness. “Pete had a longstanding interest in AIDS as an issue,” she said. “He had been one of the few journalists who had stayed on the story even when it sort of lost it luster.”
Diva Dishing
By Sheryl Lee Ralph
Day One
Aug. 13, 2006
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I was scheduled to be at the airport at 4 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight from Jamaica to Toronto. I overslept and did not make it to the airport until 6 a.m., and then found out that the airport was on red alert following terroristic threats in London. Authorities had forbidden passengers from carrying on board lipstick, lotions, hand cream, liquid in bottles, and more. I was separated from Backstage Dior Massacre and my Kiehls Hand Crème.
Thank God for good customer service at Air Jamaica. My check-in went smoothly for an on time departure. I arrived in Toronto at 12:30 p.m. but did not emerge from Immigration until 2:30 p.m. I was calmed by the sign in the customs area welcoming the delegates to the XVI International AIDS Conference. When asked by the immigration officer why I was in Toronto, I responded I was here to speak at the conference. She ever so slightly smiled and said welcome to Toronto. That moment was the beginning of a wonderful evening.
Toronto is a clean and efficient city with many surprises. My surprise was entering City Hall to prepare for my performance of “Sometimes I Cry,” to discover it is truly a public place that is open all day until 10 p.m. for its citizens to utilize, especially those wanting to get married.
Last night was a great night. About 200 delegates showed up to see “Sometimes I Cry” in the rotunda of Toronto’s City Hall. Due to time and constraints of space, I had prepared two characters, My African Sister and Ms. Calypso, because this was an African and Caribbean panel. After two standing ovations, the audience response was so overwhelming that they demanded hearing another character. So to round out the evening, I did a reading of Grandma.
As always, we never close the show without a question and answer session. An African doctor living in Canada said he was reminded why he began caring for AIDS patients and he was recommitting himself to the work. Another women living with the virus for 15 years said this was the first time she felt that someone really heard her and knew her struggle. Also during the Q & A, I was invited to perform in Norway, Kenya and Nashville, Tenn. I also was invited to perform on the “What About Us?” African and Caribbean Women Plenary scheduled for the Global Village Main Stage.
Among those in attendance last night were Julian Bond, NAACP board chairman; Bill Duke, actor/film director; Jerry Lopes, president American Urban Radio Network; and numerous AIDS activists from around the world. This was the ending of a great day and the beginning of what promises to be a wonderful conference.
Day 2
Aug. 14, 2006 [Email This Article To a Friend] I slept through my wake-up call and had to dress in very timely manner. The car had been waiting downstairs to take me to BAI’s leadership brunch. In my haste to be on time although late, I broke the heel completely off my Guisseppe Zanoti Snake Skin Mules. I was asked if I wanted to stop to get another pair of shoes but I knew at this point I had to keep on stepping. The BAI Leadership Brunch was well attended. The CDC, Ford Foundation, Levi Strauss Foundation, NAACP, Urban League, and the National Coalition of Negro Women were all represented. Representing the government were Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and my husband Sen. Vincent Hughes D-Penn. It was great to hear Julian Bond speak. I loved him as a child, and his commit to fighting the good fight is legendary. We are so blessed to him pick up the mantle for HIV/AIDS. Phill Wilson made another impassionate call to action and laid out our work responsibilities for the week ahead. The informative brunch concluded with me having to fight for my dessert. It was some of the most delicious vanilla ice cream I have had in a long time. Afterward, the delegation headed over to the convention center to prepare for the opening symposium, “The Way Forward: The state of AIDS in Black America.” Due to flight delays and change in schedule, we got off to a bit of a late start. But that was OK because the discussion made up for it with content and information under the moderation of George Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Associations. Before the panel discussion convened, Jennifer Kates from the Kaiser Family Foundation gave and excellent overview of HIV/AIDS and the African American community. Without a doubt it was made very clear that HIV in America is a black person’s disease. It is ever apparent to me that it is not enough to speak and act locally, we must always think globally. I went away from the panel thinking “My God, this is first time in 16 years of the conference that anyone has thought to include the plight of the African American community?” It has been 25 years of AIDS and we still have so much work to do. African and Caribbean nations are looking to us for direction. Many of them do not understand why they don’t see us in the delegations that are sent from the U.S. to address the issue on the continent and on their islands. This was a wake-up call for the panel. My panel included, Congresswoman Lee, Congresswoman Donna M. Christensen, D-VI, Sen. Vincent Hughes, Bill Duke, Jerry Lopes and Julian Bond,. I was proud to sit next to my husband who so eloquently stated that we must hold our government officials to task when it comes to the accountability of HIV/AIDS. After an afternoon of invigorating conversation, this Diva on one heel had to find a new pair of shoes. I tell you about them tomorrow… Aug. 15, 2006 [Email This Article To a Friend] As you may recall Sunday, I ended a very successful day of panels and positive discussion. My husband called me a “Pegged Leg Diva.” I began today beautifully shod in soft, brown, Italian, leather, four-inch stiletto d’Orsay pumps. Fabulous! And I was off, ready for a new day! Bev Smith, host of the nationally syndicated and highly praised radio program, “The Bev Smith Show” is here in Toronto covering the conference. She asked if I would come in for an interview to discuss the real deal, “Where are the Black People at this Conference?” It was great to have this forthright conversation with Bev; she is always on the case. After to talking with Bev, I rushed over to the media press room to participate in the press conference for the African American Leadership Delegation. At this conference, the NAACP, National Urban League, National Council of Negro Women, National Coalition of 100 Black Women and other leadership delegates signed the “National Call to Action and Declaration of Commitment to End the AIDS Epidemic in Black America.” Noticeably at the conference, Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper remains very much absent. Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, the two Bills, were quite an attraction later in the morning when they came together to converse with moderator Charlene Hunter-Gault of PBS, who looks wonderful by the way. A main thrust of their discussion was putting microbicides and the power to stop the spread of HIV in the hands of women. When people talk about putting the power in the hands of women, we must enlist the support of men. Men and women must work together to effect real change; one gender cannot do it without the other. The two Bills are two men who can help make it possible -- Gates with his billions and Clinton with his commitment to never give up the fight against AIDS. Later in the afternoon, the Black AIDS Institute (BAI) and Tony Wafford staged the “25 years of AIDS in Black Face” panel with the participation of Congresswomen Maxine Waters, D-Ill; Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Donna Christensen, D-VI, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, filmmaker Bill Duke, Publisher Danny Bakewell, Rev. Ed Sanders from Metropolitan Interdenominational Church of Nashville, Tenn., Pernnesa Seele executive director of the Balm in Gilead, NAACP Board Member Willis Edwards (PLWA), Dr. Beny Primm, along with Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Penn., and his lovely wife, actress and AIDS Activist, me! Primm gave a charge for us to follow the plan of the Gay Men of the 80’s who formed ACT up to get a response to their plight during that time. This time African/Black people of Diaspora need to BLACK Up and come out swinging -- Strategize, Mobilize and get ready for Action. It was a very spirited dialogue under the moderation of Bev Smith. Attendees included an international audience from throughout the Global Village. After the panel and on my way to record a PSA for BAI, I stopped by the Global Village Main Stage because there was a panel of women being moderated Charlene Hunter- Gault. The topic of discussion was Violations of Women’s Human Rights and HIV. The panel consisted of women from the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa and India. The two women representing sub-Saharan Africa were a 63-year-old grandmother and a very young woman, both of whom were HIV positive and white. The older woman threw me off when she stated, “We are endangered white women in Sub-Saharan Africa.” The younger women stated, “The disease has brought me closer to my black country men and women.” This was a mind-opening statements for me. The two panelists representing India were honest, open and refreshingly informative about the fact that women are truly powerless on their continent. They do not have the right to inherit land or deny their husbands sexual favor, when demanded, even if the husband is HIV positive. WOW! Also very informative was a woman from Alabama who discussed incarcerated positive women’s rights. She stated, “not only are they segregated, but they have no rights.” This panel opened up a conversation for women, with women, about women, and it’s about time. Aug. 16, 2006 [Email This Article To a Friend] Due to the overwhelming response from my Saturday night performance of my one-woman show, “Sometimes I Cry” and my subsequent speech during the leadership panel, I was invited to participate in the “What About Us? African and Caribbean Woman moving from the South to the North” panel on the Main Stage of the Global Village. I was angry to know that after 16 international conferences, this was the first time that African, Caribbean and African-American Women from the Diaspora were finally given a major panel, on a main stage. You would think since we are overwhelmingly infected by this disease, our collective voice would have been heard and included long before this. So let’s talk about women and AIDS. It is a fact that women around the world are oppressed and marginalized, often excluded from the power centers of real change. Until something changes, women will continue to increasingly bear the weight of HIV/AIDS. When AIDS strikes women, the bruise is deep and deadly not only to her but to her family and her community. Like grandma used to say “When Mama don’t feel good, nobody feels good!” If we are to win against the spread of HIV, we must develop serious programs and means that will put power in women’s hands. Unfortunately, that cannot and will not happen if we don t have the help and support of men. Men have the lion’s share of power around the world, leaving most women powerless and uneducated and facing many challenges in the face of change. For many women there are subject to society’s traditions, like you don’t talk back to your husband, you don’t inherit land or money and you don’t say no when your husband demands sex even it he is HIV positive. One African man lost three wives to AIDS before admitting that he was HIV positive in an effort to save his fourth wife. So you see when you talk about empowering women in the fight against HIV/AIDS, it is a difficult battle on many levels. As a woman who comes from a culture where “the Pursuit of Happiness” is my right along with freedom of speech, I can work from my own personal power base. My sisters around the world are deeply challenged. We who are able must continue to fight the good fight with open hearts and minds for those without a voice. We must fight for the resources needed for fully-funded women’s programs. We must advocate for change, real change for women that understands that many women face physical abuse and violence or are set aside when they disclose their HIV status. We must speak up because our sister’s voices have been silent and silenced for too long. This is why I am angry. But I had a chance to use my anger constructively and encourage others during my well-attended writing workshop, “Sisters Telling their Stories.” We’ll talk more about that tomorrow. Aug. 17, 2006 [Email This Article To a Friend] The days have gone by so quickly. I feel like I have just arrived. But I know from the exhaustion that I am feeling that that is not the case. I know my voice has been heard because I’ve lost it. But more importantly I have received an overwhelming response of love and appreciation from women and people from around the world. Sometimes you do the work and you never think about who you are reaching or how you are affecting them until someone walks up to you and wraps you in a loving embrace saying “Thank You.” This convention has been attended by well over 25,000 people, each of them bringing their own human story of joy, pain, heartbreak and hope. Because like the saying goes “Hope spreads faster than AIDS,” I am reminded that for some the journey would have never happen if it had not been for AIDS. They would have never left their country, village, town and their communities if AIDS had not affected them in some way. For some it would be the first time that they ever used an escalator. For some they had never dared dream that they would be sitting on planes crossing continents. But here they are welcomed in Toronto. Believe it or not, this conference could never take place in America because the United States does not permit people with AIDS to immigrate or much less transit through the country. Can you imagine? Plainly put, if you are a foreigner and have AIDS you are Persona Non Grata in the United States of America. WOW! As part of my participation in the conference, I conducted a writing workshop entitled “Sisters Telling their Stories,” which drew the participation of quite a few men as well. Hey, I am an equal opportunity Diva. Here I had the opportunity to encourage others to find their voice and use it to empower those who are voiceless. The stories that came out of these workshops were simple, yet profound. Sometimes it was the writers themselves. Most people thought they were coming to see a performance by “Moesha’s” Mom or see a “Dreamgirl” in action, but stayed to experience something quite different. A reporter from AOL Blackvoices wrote a piece that became a thought-provoking blog entitled “Are Black Women Going Out of Style?” Check it out online www.blackvoices.aol.com. A first time writer wrote a very moving and enlightening piece about the issue of race in South Africa as it pertains to black people entitled “I came to the wrong country.” She had lived her whole life in North America as a black woman only to visit the motherland to be told that she is colored and must let go of the notion that she is black. Another short and simple piece was about a black family reunion and the prayer before dinner that included hateful little homophobic statements that the writer found especially hurtful, considering that the favorite cousin in the family was known to be homosexual. The family all prayed in silence. Just as the participants in my writing workshop found the voice they did not know they had, I hope that the participants in this conference, especially the women, will find their voice and use it to change the status quo to equal unequal power relations. They can put into place systems that make true change is possible. I believe that AIDS is a great humanitarian crisis and when historians put it in the books, they will observe that we had the tools to prevent the spread of this disease but not the human desire. “Hope spreads faster than AIDS.” I hope that’s really true since five people die of AIDS every minute and millions continue to suffer and millions have died. If a vaccine was found today, we would still lose a generation of people To all the women, especially my African sisters and daughters of the Diaspora, and to all the grass roots organizations, continue to be encouraged and continue to keep hope alive. Now and then under the enormous weight that we bear in fighting this disease, the next step may seem impossible. But know that this is a disease that we can win. We cannot win without you. Speak Up! If I don’t see you before, I will see you in Mexico City at the XVII International AIDS Conference with our own place at the table. To stay in contact with Sheryl Lee Ralph visit www.SherylLeeRalph.com or www.SometimesICry.org.
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