Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Stop Medical Apartheid, AIDS Drugs Now," Kaytee Riek stood on a bench on College Green last Friday and led a group of demonstrating students and activists in a chant.
"Eight billion for doctors and nurses; fight AIDS in Africa; open your purses!" she yelled.
Riek, a member of the organization ACT UP Philadelphia - which advocates on behalf of those afflicted with HIV or AIDS - visited Penn for World AIDS Day. She was one of the main speakers at a rally of about 50 people held that afternoon by the Penn AIDS Coalition.
The rally sought to muster support for the reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act to provide $2.6 billion in funding for AIDS treatment in the U.S., and for an $8 billion initiative to train health care workers in Africa.
The rally also featured an appearance by U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, who represents Penn's district, and Christopher Coleman, an assistant professor at the School of Nursing.
Fattah pledged to support both the Ryan White CARE Act as well as the $8 billion initiative in Africa.
"Our work [to treat AIDS] is being overwhelmed by the epidemic. We need to fully fund the Ryan White Act," he said. "There is work to be done, and as Penn students you have a responsibility and an opportunity to make a difference."
Many of the demonstrators spoke to the crowd over a megaphone and sought to bring home the impact of the epidemic.
College senior Michelle Holshue, an executive board member of Penn's Society of International Development, told the crowd that 30,000 people in Philadelphia are living with HIV or AIDS.
"This isn't just something happening in Africa. This is happening in your backyard," she said.
Towards the end of the rally, Riek advocated the use of condoms and stressed their importance for safe sex. Free condoms were also distributed to attendees.
"Doing condom demonstrations in some New York and Philly schools are illegal," Riek said. "If we recognize the need for condoms, if we stop poking holes in them [by advocating abstinence alone] . then we'll make headway."
In addition, Coleman stressed the importance of being tested for HIV and AIDS.
"Eleven million people in the U.S. possibly don't know they have HIV," he said. "Get tested, know your status, and support one another."
The rally was the culmination of a week of campus-wide AIDS awareness events.
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