AIDS activist Stephen Lewis addresses major health issues to audience in McCarthy Arts Center
By Juli Bongiorno, Staff Writer
Former Canadian Ambassador Stephen Lewis spoke at the Global Health Conference held on Thursday, April 26. in the McCarthy Arts Center.
Lewis, an active AIDS advocate, has also served as the United Nations special envoy forHIV/AIDS in Africa. He was asked to speak because of his fearless advocacy for health care around the world, said Laurie Gagne, coordinator of the conference, and director of the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice.
“I would say he is the foremost advocate for health care for poor people around the world,” she said. “Especially people in Africa and especially people who are suffering with AIDS.”
The balance between treatment and prevention is important, Lewis said. He advised that the world cannot just ignore one part of the equation. When you treat someone, you create awareness, he said.
“Treatment instigates prevention,” he said. “Prevention instigates treatment.”
The lecture also incorporated the moral responsibility of pharmaceutical companies.
Lewis referred to a recent dilemma where Abbott pulled their drugs from Thailand because the government chose to make a generic form of an AIDS drug. Pharmaceutical companies are becoming too aggressive, Lewis said.
The dilemma with the government of India and Novartis is another issue involving pharmaceuticals which was mentioned.The drug company is suing India for its patent policies. An outcome in favor of Novartis could hinder the huge generics industry in India, Lewis said.
“It’s so irresponsible, it’s staggering,” he said.
The speech also commented on the role of women today. There is no corner of the world where there is not some pattern of violence against women, Lewis said. He expressed support for a new initiative by the United Nations to create a women’s agency.
“The struggle for gender equality is the single most important struggle on the planet,” he said. “I genuinely believe that you cannot marginalize 52 percent of the world’s population forever.”
Lewis ended his speech with an urgent message of advocacy.
“Devote yourself to changing the state of this lamentable universe,” he said. “The opportunity to change the world is with you now.”
Sophomore Greg Ander said he did not know much about the global health challenge.
“I knew about the commitments of the G8 to double aid to developing countries, but the most I’d done was join the one campaign,” he said.
After hearing the speech, Ander said he feels he is more knowledgeable about the issue. Lewis widened his awareness to how many people were affected by the global health challenge, and he appreciated Lewis’ presentation style, he said.
“He made six or seven points by being humorous,” Ander said. “He’s not afraid to be controversial.”
Lewis made it a point to discuss that very sentiment during his address. As many good organizations there are, you should never let an organization get away with doing something wrong or not doing enough, he said.
Lewis left his life as a public servant and became a world health advocate after he wrote an Op-Ed in a Canadian newspaper, accusing the pharmaceutical industry of mass murder, he said. The United Nations immediately contacted him and asked him to write a memo about the AIDS crisis, and was subsequently asked to serve on the envoy in Africa, he said.
“It was an unexpected sequence of events,” he said.
Although there are many factors which contribute to the global health challenge, Lewis said he doesn’t get overwhelmed.
Gagne said she thinks the people who are most involved are the ones who have the most hope.
“The way to have hope is precisely to get engaged,” she said.
Lewis’ experiences with people who suffer because of the health care challenge help him avoid becoming overwhelmed.
“In my mind it’s all reduced to individuals,” he said. “I can envisage the human beings who are at the end of the chain of events. I’ve got to keep fighting.”
Contact Juli Bongiorno at jbongiorno@smcvt.edu
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