May 8, 2008
AIDS HOUSING GOES GLOBAL
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Housing for people with AIDS is necessary in every country |
When you're at the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Mexico City in August, don't miss the "International Summit on Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS" satellite session: This first-of-its-kind meeting will create a strategy for addressing homelessness and poverty as significant barriers to fighting the AIDS epidemic.
The two-hour summit is organized by the National AIDS Housing Coalition, Housing Works and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, with committee members from Thailand, China, Kenya, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada. Participants will work together to develop and present to the IAC a declaration demanding adequate housing as a fundamental human right and an essential element of effective HIV prevention and health care.
"People living with HIV/AIDS globally always name housing as a priority, but it's often neglected when developing policy," said Housing Works Director of National Advocacy Christine Campbell. "You can't treat people with HIV/AIDS if they're not housed, or if they don't have water. If people don't have a place to take their medication, it's all for naught."
You don't have to wait until August to get involved with the Poverty, Homelessness and HIV/AIDS satellite meeting. Just contact Christine Campbell at campbell@housingworks.org or 202-408-0305.
May 2, 2008
SAY NO TO THAILAND'S DRUG WAR
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A 2006 Thai protest fighting drug laws |
Back in 2003, the Thai government launched a massive war on drugs, leading to the extrajudicial killing of thousands of Thai drug users. Suspects were beaten, tortured and forced to confess to false accusations. Many drug users were and continue to be systematically denied access to medical care, including HIV medications. It's estimated that half of people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand are IV drug users.
Now, it seems the Thai government is renewing its terrifying assault on drug users. According to the Thai Network of People Living with AIDS and the Thai AIDS Treatment Group (TTAG), the Prime Minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, announced last month that the police would have special powers to track down drug users in order to reduce the demand for drugs. The interior minister of Thailand was quoted as saying "for drug dealers, if they do not want to die, they had better quit staying on that road. Drugs suppression in my time as interior minister will follow the approach of [former Thai Prime Minister] Thaksin. If that will lead to 3,000 to 4,000 deaths of those who break the law, then so be it. That has to be done." (For more on the situation in Thailand click here.)
Join activists in the U.S. who are showing solidarity with their Thai brothers and sisters at a symbolic die-in at noon on May 6 in front of the Thai Embassy at 1024 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC. Before the die-in there will be a rally featuring TTAG Executive Director Paisan Suwannawong and TTAG Policy and Development Director Karyn Kaplan. Suwannawong, a former heroin addict who is living with HIV, founded an organization called the Thai Drug Users' Network partly to bring attention to the Thai government's human rights violations against drug users. He gained worldwide attention when he secured a speaking spot at the 2004 International AIDS conference in Bangkok.
The growing list of groups sponsoring the D.C. action includes ACT UP Philadelphia, the American Medical Student Association, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, Housing Works, Proyecto Sol Filadelphia, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
To endorse the action or if you have questions, e-mail Kaytee Riek from Health GAP at kaytee@healthgap.org.
April 4, 2008
GLOBAL GO-GETTERS
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Virginia Shubert Courage Award honorees Davis and Russell |
Before he became the liberal Messiah, Al Gore was the vice president who energetically supported a Clinton administration policy imposing trade sanctions against countries producing generic versions of AIDS medications. When a handful of activists began repeatedly interrupting his presidential campaign in 1999 to draw attention to this morally indefensible position, Gore agreed to meet with the group —and then convinced Clinton to relax the patent sanctions. The price of medication in Sub-Saharan Africa dropped from $10,000 a year per patient in 1998 to $45 a year per patient today.
Two core members of that activist gang were Health GAP founders Paul Davis and Asia Russell, who say the Clinton-Gore turnaround is one of the achievements of which they are proudest. As, respectively, Health GAP's director of international advocacy and director of U.S. governmental affairs, Davis and Russell continue to work towards Health GAP's goal of eliminating barriers to affordable life-sustaining medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS around the world. Housing Works will honor these two trailblazers in the global AIDS movement with a Virginia Shubert Courage Award at the Fourth Annual Keith D. Cylar Activist Awards on April 17. For tickets to the awards gala click here.
"AIDS activism is tough, but it's incredibly rewarding and more vital now to me than ever before, so it's an intense gratification to receive an award for work that is really essential to me," Russell said. "What only compounds that gratification is that the award is in the name of true AIDS warriors."
Davis agreed. “Before he left us, it was my privilege to work with Keith from time to time on his project to build a new society in the vacant lots of the old. To receive this award in his name, and to be recognized by his beloved community is a profound honor."
When they helped found Health GAP, Davis, 39, and Russell, 31, were both passionate ACT UP/Philadelphia members. "ACT UP was just the smartest, best activist organization in the world," Davis said. Both already had activist experience: Davis had been a tenant organizer in Seattle and got involved with ACT UP through AIDS housing. Russell, who was arrested for the first time at age 15 protesting the first Gulf War, had been involved with AIDS activism since volunteering in Washington D.C. providing housing and services for men living with AIDS. "All of them died too soon," Russell said. "This human impact of the refusal by people with power to mount an aggressive response to AIDS radicalized me."
Russell and Davis were among those in ACT UP who realized that the same tactics used to increase access to AIDS meds in the U.S. could be applied to combating the global AIDS pandemic. Initially, there was some resistance. Many wondered how Philadelphians living with HIV/AIDS and their communities would respond to taking on global AIDS, given the real needs of people in the U.S.
"But during teach-ins, and planning meetings and endless preparation, it became clear: People felt genuine solidarity with HIV-positive people in developing countries, even though they were an ocean away. The struggle for access to affordable, life-extending treatment was an issue that electrified people. It wasn't a sense of charity, but a sense of a shared struggle for social justice," Russell said. "I felt extraordinarily proud to be a part of that movement—one that rejected the urge to divide domestic AIDS issues from global AIDS issues, or to pit the two against each other, artificially."
The magic of bird-dogging
"Bird-dogging is the magic bullet of grassroots tactics," said Paul Davis. "As activists, we spend a lot of time talking to people who don't have the power to do anything. On the stump is one of the only places where we have face-to-face interaction with the people in power." Health GAP is known for exploiting bird-dogging-confronting politicians seeking election at all manner of public appearances-to its fullest. The relative success of the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), owes much to Health GAP bird-dogging in 2008.
Presidential candidate after candidate was asked to pledge $50 billion for global AIDS, and by World AIDS Day, all of the Democratic candidates at least, agreed, putting pressure on Democrats in Congress to do the same during PEPFAR reauthorization. "Once the candidates, said yes to this, Congress didn't feel they could say no," Davis said. On Wednesday, the House approved the PEPFAR reauthorization with a $50 billion budget by a vote of 308 to 116, and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
What's next for Russell and Davis? Russell, who serves on the Board of Directors for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, plans to work on identifying the best strategies to combat those diseases in small communities worldwide. Davis plans to sail with his partner Jennifer Cohn (who he met at an ACT UP meeting) and settle in a place where they can "attempt to be useful."
Davis and Russell will be honored at the Cylar Awards along with Esther Boucicault (International AIDS Activist Award), who was the first person in Haiti to publicly discuss living with HIV/AIDS and who built a pioneering AIDS organization in the rural Bas-Artibonite region; Gloria Gonzalez (U.S. AIDS Activist Award), an HIV-positive former drug user fighting for treatment, prevention and housing for HIV-positive injection drug users in Puerto Rico; and Diane Williams (Housing Works AIDS Activist Award), one of Housing Works' fiercest of grassroots activists.
March 7, 2008
TURNING THE TIDE IN TAIWAN
lessons of social enterprise
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King and Ai-Lan |
In 2006, 22 Taiwanese people living with HIV/AIDS were facing lawful eviction from a shelter in a building rented by an AIDS group called Harmony Home. Why? Because neighbors didn't want people with HIV/AIDS in the neighborhood.
Fortunately, this heinous event was reversed by Taiwan's high court in 2007. What's more, the Harmony Home incident prompted the Taiwanese government to pass the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention and Patients' Rights Protection Act in July 2007, securing the rights of HIV-positive people to housing, care, and equal protection under the law. But Taiwanese Deputy Minister of Labor Affairs Tsao Ai-Lan believes more than the law needs changing in her home country.
Ai-Lan paid a visit to Housing Works on Tuesday because she wants AIDS organizations in her home country to learn how to be financially self-sufficient. Such independence would allow Harmony Home to buy—rather than rent—housing and not be subjected to the whims of AIDS discrimination (the Taiwanese government does not provide grants that would allow them to buy property). Ai-Lan's idea is timely: HIV/AIDS is a growing problem in Taiwan. In 2006 there were 12,474 people with living with HIV and 2,818 people with living with AIDS. And since 2003, the number of new cases has roughly doubled each year—mainly spreading through contaminated needle-sharing among intravenous drug users.
While universal healthcare means that antiretrovirals are available to everyone and harm reduction efforts are starting to get off the ground, there are other issues exacerbating the AIDS crisis. Stigma and discrimination remain a huge barrier, as the Harmony House debacle showed, and there is little grassroots momentum among HIV positive people.
Taking 'everything' back home
During her morning visit, Ai-Lan made stops at the Housing Works Thrift Shops and the Housing Works Bookstore Café. Such enterprises account for almost 40 percent of Housing Works' $38 million annual budget, an important component in the organization's ability to function independently.Ai-Lan asked Housing Works' Senior Vice President of Business Enterprise Matthew Bernardo and Housing Works President and CEO Charles King pointed questions about HIV/AIDS, social enterprise and advocacy: "If you're thinking about how to make money, how do you serve people?";"In New York City you have better benefits for people with AIDS. Is it because you advocate?"; and "Does the Christian religion matter a lot in your country?"
When Ai-Lan was asked what she'll bring back to Taiwan from her visit at Housing Works, she said, "Everything!"
February 22, 2008
THAI-ING TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM
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Thai protest against unfair U.S. trade agreement—and they can do it again |
This week, U.S. AIDS advocates joined allies in Thailand and throughout the world in calling on Thailand's newly elected ruling party to continue to enforce compulsory licenses on three cancer drugs. Thai Minister of Public Health Chaiya Sasomsab, under pressure from PhRMA, the U.S. brand-name pharmaceutical industry trade association, voiced plans this month to end compulsory licensing for three generic cancer drugs.
Failing to enforce the licenses would undermine Thailand's struggle to produce generic medication, a critical aspect of the country's fight against AIDS. PhRMA had threatened to push the U.S. to impose sanctions if Thailand stops enforcing the licenses. In their letter to Sasomsab, U.S. advocates called PhRMA's tactic a bluff that "has no basis in U.S. law or political reality." The letter was signed by more than 30 groups including Health GAP, Oxfam, Housing Works and Essential Action.
"We wanted to communicate the flimsiness of PhRMA's threat and to voice how the U.S. public views the pharmaceutical industry," said Sarah Rimmington, an attorney with Essential Action, which drafted the letter.
Even though compulsory licenses are legal under international law, many countries have hesitated to implement them for fear of retribution. Thailand's compulsory licensing policy, enacted in 2006 under the military junta that took control of Thailand in a military coup—and under accordance with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement— temporarily suspends patent protections for some older medications and allows production of cheaper ones, helping to treat people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
The best medicine
One in a hundred people in Thailand has HIV/AIDS, and affordable antiretrovirals have decreased the number of deaths due to AIDS-related causes by 80 percent. Compulsory licensing prompted Abbott Pharmaceuticals to lower its price on Kaletra in Thailand, but not other countries, showing that the competition worked to exert pressure. Continuing Thailand's compulsory licensing program is important, not just for the Thai people, but also symbolically, giving other countries the courage to defy Big Pharma and follow the TRIPS and Doha agreements.
"We know there are benefits already of compulsory licensing and would hate to see that stop and not be shared globally," Rimmington said. "It would really be a blow to the world if progress is stalled in Thailand."
While officials inside the Thai government have determined that compulsory licensing can't be revoked, The Bangkok Post reported, there is still the chance that the new health minister might take action to bypass the patents of drugs in the future.
Should Sasomsab go through with ending compulsory licenses, he's sure to incur the wrath of well-mobilized patient advocacy groups throughout Thailand and the world. In 2006, such organizations fought hard for the compulsory licenses and know that they are both legal and worth fighting for.
To get involved in the fight to maintain Thailand's compulsory licenses, contact Sarah Rimmington at srimmington@essentialinformation.org.
February 8, 2008
DRAMA ON THE HILL
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Warren surrounded by some who believe in reproductive health |
AIDS advocates were scrambling to keep an exceptionally strong global AIDS funding bill in tact this week after religious conservatives, including Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, held a press conference on Thursday falsely stating that the legislation's reproductive health component would fund abortions.
The press conference was held on Capitol Hill in anticipation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee mark-up of legislation introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The mark-up was scheduled for Thursday but was postponed until February 14, when more Democratic representatives will be present.
Led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Thursday's press conference included Warren and six other Republican Congressmen. The group's most egregious claim concerned the proposed bill's reproductive health component.
"Democrats propose to mandate the integration of reproductive health services into PEPFAR, which would transform the program into a mega-funding pool for organizations with an abortion promotion," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). In actuality, no PEPFAR money would be spent on abortion but would instead integrate essential women's health options, such as contraceptives, to HIV-positive women who want to avoid getting pregnant. Another distortion made at the press conference was that support for vulnerable populations, including sex workers, amounted to "pimping."
"It was the same old rhetoric stating that, 'this bill makes sure abortion gets a piece of the PEPFAR pie,' which is completely untrue," said Jamila Taylor, legislative and policy analyst for the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). Taylor was one of dozens of supporters of Lantos' bill who packed the press conference, held up signs and distributed the sign-on letter signed by 100 U.S. and 60 international organizations that support the bill. Outnumbering the group resisting changes to PEPFAR were representatives of Health and Gender Equity, Unitarian Universalists, American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Health GAP, Catholic Relief Services and International Women's Health Coalition.
"When there is maternal mortality due to unprotected sex, I find it very, very immoral that they are lying through their teeth," said Jodi Jacobson, director of advocacy for the American Jewish World Service.
A better bill
HIV/AIDS advocates have been working for months on the reauthorization of PEPFAR. The current draft of the bill has many notable improvements, including an end to the abstinence-only-till-marriage HIV-prevention earmark, an increase to $50 billion in funding over five years, and a repeal of the U.S.'s shameful HIV-immigration ban.
But as Thursday's press conference showed, not everyone in Congress supports the new PEPFAR. AIDS advocates are reaching out to both sides of the aisle to find out what it will take to get Lantos' bill passed. The AIDS Institute attended a meeting this week with abstinence-until-marriage crusader Rep. Tom Coburn (R-OK). "The Senate and House committee staffs want to come up with a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation," Sykes told the Update.
Although the bill could have enough votes to pass with just Democratic support, the Democrats want a bipartisan bill, David Bryden of the Global AIDS Alliance said. He believes Lantos' current bill won't receive Republican support and changes will have to be made. "Some phrases are real hot-button issues, and it's important to pass a bill with as much bipartisan support as possible," he said.
Talk of bipartisan support and changes worries AJWS director Jacobson. "There are numerous folks who are expressing panic if we don't create a bipartisan bill before the mark-up," said Jacobson, a long-time HIV/AIDS and reproductive health advocate. "'Compromising' is code for 'get rid of stuff that's controversial.' We've got a relatively good bill, but we're already caving."
Jacobson is already concerned that the most recent draft of Lantos' bill changed the phrase "reproductive health" to "family planning." She said that the latter phrase is weakened language that will make it harder to guarantee women get the healthcare services they need. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation was also troubled. It called for "support provisions that will help strengthen prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and pediatric treatment programs and oppose any amendments that restrict the provision of prevention services in PEPFAR countries."
November 9, 2007
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!
the Dominican Republic
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The Dominican Republic was ravaged by Noel |
Of all the countries it affected, Tropical Storm Noel hit the Dominican Republic and Haiti the hardest. In the Dominican Republic, Noel caused more than 82 deaths and left more than 67,000 people without homes. In Haiti, at least 64 people were reported dead, and thousands are homeless. From now until World AIDS Day on December 1, Housing Works and AID for AIDS will be collecting essential items to send to Haitians and Dominicans living with HIV/AIDS.
"People with HIV/AIDS in the Dominican Republic and Haiti are among the most marginalized in both countries," said Housing Works President and CEO Charles King. "They are in areas that are missed by other relief efforts, so it is crucial they receive the essential goods they need."
Donations, including first aid kits, clothing and canned goods (click on "Read the Rest" to see full list) will be accepted at all Housing Works locations, as well as at the Housing Works' World AIDS Day Vigil at City Hall park for the 24-hour "reading of names" on December 1. If your organization would like to be a drop-off point for donations, e-mail terri smith-caronia at
smith-caronia@housingworks.org. If you would like to financially contribute to the effort you can donate to Housing Works here or AIDS for AIDS here and specify the money is for the "Noel AIDS Relief."
To help, here's the list of items you can donate:
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrushes
- Deodorant
- Soap
- Shampoo
- Disposable Razors
- Combs
- Chlorine Tablets
- Toilet Paper
- Handi-Wipes
- Tylenol
- Alcohol wipes
- Bethazine
- Band-aids
- Dressings
- Aspirin
- Mosquito repellant
- Pedialyte
- Men's and women's undershirts (NEW)
- Men's and women's underwear (NEW)
- Sandals
- Cloth diapers and safety pins
- Canned meat
- Rice
October 5, 2007
BUSH SAYS SCHIP OUT
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Uninsured kids—how would they vote? |
President Bush's veto of popular bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Wednesday kicked off a multimillion dollar national political battle that could influence dozens of races in 2008 federal elections and determine the makeup of the next Congress.
As we reported last week Bush's veto threatens care for millions of kids, and it's not proving very popular. Several polls (click here and here) earlier this year showed that nine out of ten Americans want SCHIP reauthorized and expanded to cover more uninsured children. And some of the loudest cries of protest against the veto came from Republicans like Utah's Senator Orrin Hatch.
Senate leaders say they've got the votes to override Bush's veto—"We've got to do what we can to try to override," said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, senior Republican on the Finance Committee. But it's way closer in the House of Representatives, where the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has started a radio and phone call campaign against Republicans who voted against SCHIP, including Randy Kuhl from upstate New York.
Fifteen to twenty Republicans will face a torrent of organized SCHIP events, radio and TV ads, and inquiries from newspaper reporters in the next two weeks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be planning an override vote for the week of October 15, and she's picked up two votes already this week of the 25 or so she needs. Target Republicans who don't vote to override will be the Dems' prime targets in 2008 elections that could reshape Congress and provide the next President with a real governing majority.
Speaking of which—all the Democratic presidential candidates weighed in against Bush, and dozens of SCHIP-themed emails were blasted out of campaign offices and think tanks just minutes after the President issued his veto. While Bush's assertions on SCHIP are mostly ridiculous and conservatives' claims that the SCHIP effort amounts to socialized medicine are laughable (no state has a fully public, state-run health care system, and just about all SCHIP money goes to HMOs and insurance companies), it is true that the SCHIP battle of 2007 could amount to the first shots in the war for universal health care in 2008 and 2009.
August 31, 2007
'YOU'RE FIRED!' IN SOUTH AFRICA HAS WORLD AGHAST
deputy minister of health
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Protesters support Madlala-Routledge on Wednesday Credit:Faizel Slamang |
More than 1,500 South African AIDS activists gathered Wednesday at a Cape Town cathedral to protest President Thabo Mbeki's unjust firing of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, the now former Deputy Minister of Health and to demand that the government still implement National Strategic Plan (2007-2011). There is deep concern that the loss of a sane voice in the South African government on AIDS policy will undue the steps forward in recent months .
Legendary Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) leader Zackie Achmat, marched the group to Parliament to hand over a letter demanding Madlala-Routledge's reinstatement. The letter was denied.
"This is a deep, deep tragedy for the country, for democracy and above all for HIV-AIDS," Achmat said of Madlala-Routledge's dismissal.
The South African government claims Madlala-Routledge was fired because she didn't receive express permission to attend an AIDS conference in Spain, and she is now being asked to reimburse the government an estimated $70,000 U.S. dollars for the conference and other petty costs.But the idea that Madlala-Routledge was forced out because she over spent her travel stipend doesn't make sense, since it is not uncommon for high level ministers to go to conferences without getting an okay. It is widely presumed that Madlala-Routledge was canned because she stood up to Mbeki and his AIDS denialist health minister Manto Tshablala-Msimang in laying out real steps to address the AIDS crisis. (For a full description of what unfolded check out TAC's website).
When Health minister Tshablala-Msimang got sick nine months ago, Madlala-Routledge took the opportunity to side-step the health minister's authority and build true coalitions with AIDS advocates, who helped write the National Strategic Plan (2007-2011), which ambitiously aims to cut HIV infections in half by 2011. An estimated 5.4 million South Africans are infected with AIDS, the highest number in the world. But now that Madlala-Routledge has been fired the future of the plan—and South Africa's position on AIDS— is in serious doubt.
"The Health department is full of incompetent people. I have very little faith in them to implement the National Strategic Plan," said Gregg Gonsalves at the AIDS and Rights Law Project of Southern Africa in Cape Town. "This is about more than just Nozizwe's firing. It's about the whole idea that you can't speak up about public health. It's supposed to be a democracy, not Soviet Russia."
What you can do
So Madlala-Routledge is not put into debt paying back the South African government, TAC has arranged a fund that concerned people can donate to. For Americans who want to donate, e-mail Judie Blair at freesa@igc.org.
While there is little chance Mbeki will restore Madlala-Routledge to her past position, it is still essential for AIDS advocates in South Africa and around the world to let the South African government hear from us.
Because Mbeki is known for caring more about his status overseas than what his own citizens care, for those outside South Africa, there's a lot you can do to help. You could write a letter to Mbeki, but "he'll probably throw it out," Gonsalves said. The best way to get the President's attention is to write a letter to the editor of South African newspapers such as the Mail & Guardian or the Sunday Times.
July 6, 2007
GOING GLOBAL
by Diana Scholl
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Raphael has brought C2EA to South Africa |
Most South African AIDS activists remember 2006's XVI International AIDS Conference for one reason: the lemons and garlic that were prominently displayed at South Africa's exhibition booth. The global outrage over these "natural" treatments sidelined health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and convinced president Thabo Mbeki to hand AIDS policy-making to those who don't share his denialist views, lest he embarass himself further.
But Yvette Raphael remembers the conference for a different reason: She passed a booth for the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), and was drawn to the heart in the group's logo. An HIV/AIDS coordinator who trains public sector employees about the disease, Raphael grabbed a handful of information, and read about C2EA when she returned to her home in Johannesburg. C2EA's grassroots message aligned with her own convictions. "C2EA carries a message of hope that eliminating AIDS is something that can be done now. In South Africa, the press makes it seem that it will take generations before that can happen," she said.
Raphael downloaded the C2EA logo from its website, plastered it on T-shirts, and on World AIDS Day she and her friends were decked out in C2EA gear. Along with the voluntary testing, counseling and AIDS assistance program offered by SASSETA, the organization that funds Raphael's outreach, she read a speech explaining the C2EA principles on how to reduce infections. She was greeted with rousing applause. "I told everyone, 'We need hope and there is an end. We just need to work within these principles," she said.
Although C2EA's strategy is to establish a strong presence in all U.S. states and territories before going global, "we're now international whether we like it or not," said Larry Bryant, C2EA national field organizer. "It's amazing what Yvette and other activists have done in Africa, without the resources we have here."
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Raphael promoting C2EA on World AIDS Day |
After the World AIDS Day event, Raphael e-mailed Bryant, who is providing her with advice on pursuing her activism. With Raphael's help, Bryant would like to expand C2EA's reach in South Africa where there are longstanding political disagreements between AIDS groups. "We'd love to use C2EA as a political venue to resolve our differences," Raphael said.
In 2005 5.5 million people were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, more than 10 percent of the population. As in the U.S., women are disproportionately affected, accounting for approximately 55 percent of all new infections. Despite the country's various education campaigns, Raphael said many of the people she speaks with don't know how HIV is transmitted and think they are safe from the virus. "People think they are immune from getting HIV because they are married or because they are Black or White," she said.
Raphael has experienced the horror of burying relatives who have died of AIDS and doesn't want future generations to experience that pain. "I'd like my children and children's children not to see everyone living with AIDS," she said. "I want to live in an HIV free society."