Stephen Lewis
"It's appalling,'' said Lewis, author of Race Against Time, in a fiery and passionate talk in Snyder Auditorium on September 18 sponsored by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights and by the Harvard University Program on AIDS.
``The failure of response is worthy of hauling some people up in front of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity,'' he said.
Lewis said funding for AIDS in Africa is just $8.3 billion this year-far short of what is needed. "There has been a momentary excitement that there is money flowing where there wasn't before, but compared to the needs that are coming, we are facing a dreadful financial shortfall,'' he said.
The need this year alone is $15 billion, he said, and that is expected to rise to $18 billion next year, $22 billion in 2008, and $30 billion by 2010. ``We're billions and billions short and that will be counted in lives,'' he said.
Lewis charged that promises for funding made at the G-8 summit in July 2005 in Scotland are unraveling. "Commitments are falling apart,'' he said.
At the same time, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria is half a billion dollars short this year and will be a billion dollars short next year, he said. "What in God's name is going on here?'' he said. "The richest countries in the world make a solid commitment to double aid to Africa and three-quarters into the year, they are half a billion short.''
According to Lewis, celebrities such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Bono, and Angelina Jolie have stepped up where governments have failed. "While it is entirely admirable, all the celebrity leadership in the world, even when well financed, will not substitute for the involvement of governments,'' he said. "Ultimately, governments have the money and the capacity to turn things around,'' he said.
Lewis said he was particularly incensed about the plight of children and women in Africa when it comes to AIDS. Only three to five percent of children are receiving the necessary attention, he said, and only nine percent of HIV-positive pregnant women have access to one-time antiretroviral therapy that can prevent mother-to-baby transmission.
The disproportionate toll that HIV/AIDS is taking on women in Africa threatens to make women an "endangered species,'' he charged. "They are dying in horrendous numbers,'' he said. "And we cannot seem to change it.''
The crisis stems from the low status of women and the rate of sexual violence perpetrated by men, he said. "There are simply no words to convey adequately the carnage,'' he said.
Lewis said it appears the U.N. will appoint a special international agency for women's issues but said a panel's recommendation for $200 million in funding is too low.
On a positive note, Lewis said that there were some hopeful signs at the XVI International AIDS Conference held in August in Toronto, including a general recognition among most in attendance that "we should be moving from the kind of existential discussion of abstractions to doing really important work on the ground.''
Among Africa-related issues that received attention were the development of microbicide gels to prevent the spread of HIV, pre-exposure prophylaxis with anti-retroviral drugs among high-risk groups, and the need for better overall health care, including nutrition, to help those fighting infection.
"There was about the conference a guarded optimism,'' he said.
Lewis was HSPH's 2005 Commencement speaker.
—ML
Copyright, 2007, President and Fellows of Harvard College
