MISS UNIVERSE® 2000 TO SPEAK AT HARVARD ON WOMEN AND AIDS

Four-woman panel offers perspectives from an activist,
a caregiver, an advocate living with HIV, and a political leader

BOSTON, October 4, 2000—Lara Dutta, Miss Universe® 2000, will participate in a HAI forum, Having Our Say: Women Respond to the Worldwide AIDS Epidemic on Wednesday, October 4, 5-7 p.m. in the Harvard School of Public Health’s Kresge Building. Dutta, who will spend her year working on behalf of Miss Universe’s official cause of HIV and AIDS education, will be joined by three other women—a political leader, a caregiver, and an advocate living with HIV —to share their experiences on confronting the epidemic and increasing global awareness.

Dutta will share her perspective as an activist addressing important health needs of women including access to a comprehensive range of health services and accurate information about HIV. "As Miss Universe, I travel around the world speaking about HIV and AIDS. The epidemic has severely impacted my home country of India, and I look forward to focusing my efforts on HIV prevention and education for women."

Other panelists at the forum will be Rep. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-Virgin Islands), addressing the subject of women and AIDS from the perspective of a political leader; Dr. Mame Awe Toure, a physician from Senegal, presenting the perspective of a caregiver from the developing world; and Ms. Kim Nichols of the African Services Committee, supplying an advocate’s perspective.

"Through this forum, we have brought together women who are playing significant yet very distinct roles in confronting the AIDS epidemic. Their unique responses will not only engage others but, hopefully, will create dialog and action well after this forum is over," said Richard Marlink, executive director of HAI.

"Around the world, women have become the fastest growing group of people infected with HIV. In many countries, speaking about AIDS is as life threatening as the virus," said Maureen J. Reidy, president of the Miss Universe Organization. "The alliance between the Miss Universe Organization and HAI allows us to educate women so that they will have the ability to protect themselves against infection."

This forum will mark the second time that a reigning Miss Universe has spoken at Harvard since HAI began a partnership with the Miss Universe Organization one year ago. Last year’s Miss Universe, Mpule Kwelagobe, participated in a forum at Harvard and also spoke at the dedication of the Botswana–Harvard HIV Reference Laboratory in her home country of Botswana.

This forum is open to the public and will draw physicians, community leaders, health care workers, students, and people living with AIDS. Audiovisual elements from the forum will be available on HAI’s web site at http://aids.harvard.edu.

HAI is a university-wide organization dedicated to conducting and catalyzing research to end the worldwide AIDS epidemic. The institute is involved in HIV research and training partnerships in countries around the world.


The Miss Universe Organization, producer of the MISS UNIVERSE®, MISS USA®, AND MISS TEEN USA®, Pageants, is a Donald J. Trump and CBS Television Network partnership. For more information and photos, visit www.missuniverse.com.