Sweeping across the continent of Africa, a wave of concern over the AIDS epidemic has now caused ripples on the Penn campus. Last Friday, panelists and experts, including representatives from drug companies, academic departments and non-profit service organizations, gathered in Houston Hall to debate how the global community should deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The conference, entitled "HIV/AIDS in Africa: The Critical Link Between Human Rights and Health," was the third in a series of annual conferences on human rights - initially started by Evelyne Shuster, director of the Veterans Affair Medical Center's Human Rights and Ethics Program and Professor George Annas, director of Boston University's Health Law Department. "We wanted to put HIV/AIDS in context, learn about the African perspectives, the human rights perspectives and ultimately explore what should and can be done now," Shuster said. She delivered the keynote speech, advocating what she called the "human rights model" in the fight against AIDS. Shuster said that ensuring human rights in Africa should be the first and foremost step taken. Focusing heavily on the lack of women's rights, she added that many African patriarchal cultures dictate when and how often women should engage in sex, plus whether or not they should use protection - both factors that increase the spread of AIDS. Her staunch position on women's rights angered Jeffrey Kemprecos, director of public affairs for Merck and Co., Inc. "Where is her moral outrage?" he asked, adding that the primary problem concerned the incompetence of certain African governments - not the lack of women's rights. Kemprecos pointed to South Africa, where he said President Thabo Mbeki refuses to acknowledge any correlation between HIV and AIDS, rebuffing generous offers from companies like Merck for reduced prices on AIDS treatments. As the conference progressed, the diversity of perspectives led to more dissent. At points, thinly-veiled hostility surfaced during audience-speaker dialogues, noted Swarthmore College graduate Richard Vezina. "However focused [the conference] wants to be, people's agendas creep up," Vezina said. Others, however, liked the tension, including 1995 College graduate Malika Levy. "It was a really great conference. conferences such as these are needed to bring more radical voices out there," Levy said. Most of the panelists came to the consensus that the AIDS problem would have to be tackled by integrating the efforts of humanitarian organizations, local and national governments, drug companies and the African people themselves. "It's a complex issue," Kemprecos said. "There are no short-cuts or magic bullets. The solution is working together in partnerships to expand cures and treatments." Friday's event was sponsored by Penn's African Studies Center, Global Lawyers and Physicians and Physicians for Human Rights.
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