Oscar Kashala

A physician, Kashala earned a doctorate in cancer biology from HSPH in 1992 and currently works at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Cambridge. He was introduced at the lecture by his former HSPH advisor Max Essex, chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. The event was organized by the student group Africa Health Forum.

The Democratic Republic of Congo "is a country that has enormous resources, yet it is a country in grinding poverty," said Kashala. The country has experienced political instability, economic collapse, corruption, societal disintegration, and widespread violence, he asserted.

There are 1.1 million people living with HIV in the Congo; 100,000 died from AIDS in 2003, he said. Polio has not been eradicated. Tuberculosis and malaria remain significant problems. Many people die of malnutrition or diarrhea, the result of contaminated drinking water. Two percent of the country's budget goes to health care.

It is a paradox, said Kashala, because the Congo is rich in natural resources that could help protect against poverty. The country has valuable deposits of uranium, copper, and cobalt. The country also has the Congo River and the world's second largest contiguous rain forest, he said.

"Yet 80 percent of the people live on less than $1 per day, 30 percent of children die before the age of 5, and unemployment is at 85 percent," he said.

Kashala perceives that universal access to health care and a free education system would help improve people's lives. He also called for the establishment of a government authority like the FDA and for the development or strengthening of national ethical and scientific committees. These groups could help oversee the safety of marketed drugs and of experimental drugs used in clinical trials, he said.

The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, "calls upon humanity to stand up and say, 'We need to do something for this country'," said Kashala. "We can't just watch as people die."

—ML