Former United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis spoke Monday of what he called the heart-wrenching destruction caused by the AIDS pandemic. The speech took place in the Wisconsin Union Theater as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Distinguished Lecture Series.
Praising Lewis in her introduction speech, Aili Tripp, UW-Madison Associate Dean of International Studies and professor of political science and women's studies, called him ""one of the most impassioned voices of our time.""
She said he has challenged world leaders to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.
""We feel like this is such an important issue. We try to find ways to increase the dialogue on campus,"" said Jane Wanninger, associate director of the Distinguished Lecture Series Committee and a UW-Madison senior, concerning the epidemic in Africa.
She said international action is slow in coming but that Lewis is working to puncture this apathy.
""I never anticipated the pervasiveness of death I did not understand,"" said Lewis, regarding the AIDS crisis.
He highlighted the drug Nevirapine, which can be given to a pregnant woman and her newborn baby and can reduce transmission rates of HIV/AIDS by 50 percent, Lewis said.
Two million children are living with the virus; however, only 5 to 10 percent are receiving treatment, according to Lewis.
He stressed that 80 percent of children born with HIV die before the age of 5.
Lewis also emphasized the presense of gender inequality in the epidemic, in Africa and worldwide. Women are disproportionately infected with HIV/AIDS, he said, often because they lack sexual and legal control over their bodies. African grandmothers are raising millions of orphans in a redefined family structure caused by the loss of the mothers, according to Lewis.
International plans to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS have fallen short of their goals, Lewis said, including the World Health Organization's Three By Five plan to provide three million AIDS sufferers with free antiviral drugs by 2005.
He criticized international complacency toward the AIDS crisis, which he said treats sufferers as if they were expendable when the means exist to help them.
UW-Madison freshman Maggie Lancelle said she came to the talk because she is thinking about doing nursing work in Africa. She said she wants to see how she can help with crises there like HIV/AIDS.
According to Lewis, some people think the HIV/AIDS pandemic is waning in Africa, but he has a different opinion.
""It's not true,"" he said, emphasizing the pervasiveness of the disease and its destructive effects.
