A Call to Action to Turn The Tide Together

What do you get when a group of inspiring, passionate speakers talk about an issue such as HIV/AIDS? I don’t know about you, but I got goose bumps, tears, and a high dose of optimism. That is what I got at the Plenary Session today at the XIX International AIDS Conference.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave a powerful presentation, Ending the HIV Epidemic: From Scientific Advances to Public Health Implementation; he had such energy that it kept me waiting for his very next word. 

            Dr. Fauci pointed to advances, such as the availability of more than 30-FDA approved antiretroviral medications, and an increased life expectancy for those with HIV. He said, however, that the United States alone has a good percentage of people that have not been diagnosed, and many others that are not linked to care. 

            So what are the challenges to ending this epidemic? Dr. Fauci said it – this will not happen spontaneously.  To get there, he said, we need:

-       Country ownership

-       Capacity building

-       Health systems strengthening

-       Increased commitment by current partners

-       Involvement of new partners

-       Coordination

-       Getting rid of what doesn't work and focus on what works

-       Remove legal, political and stigma barriers

Only then, he said, will we be able to say that we are the generation that opened the door to have an AIDS Free Generation.

            OK, by now I was already in tears…but there was more. The next speaker, Mr. Phill Wilson, President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, brought the message closer to home with his presentation Deciding Moment: Ending the AIDS Epidemic in America Together.  Mr. Wilson made it clear that in order to conquer this epidemic, all voices need to be included. He referred to the AIDS epidemic in America as “a tale of two cities,” in which the system works well for some but is terribly broken down for others.

            Mr. Wilson spoke about President Barack Obama’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy and mentioned 5 key points that need to happen to end the AIDS epidemic:

1) Implement Affordable Care Act and fight any efforts to roll it back;

2) People with HIV must come out; let it be know that it is possible to live a full and healthy life with HIV;

3) Put a demand on treatment; if there is not a demand, there will be no effort to build it

4) Integrate behavioral interventions with biomedical interventions; they need to be connected together in order to be effective.

5) AIDS organizations must re-tool to deal with current AIDS landscape by incorporating biomedical interventions to their behavioral interventions.

Mr. Wilson made two powerful statements that once again made me cry (¡sí, soy una llorona!). First he said that he was alive today because he had the love and support of his family and friends.  And then he ended up his presentation with the following statement: “Together we are greater than AIDS!”

            My status at this time: makeup ruined, red nosed, but so inspired! And what came next topped it all: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with the Keynote address. “I’m here to set a goal for a generation that is free of AIDS,” said Secretary Clinton, followed by “Welcome to the United States,” something that had not been said in 23 years due to a United States’ HIV-travel ban.

            I have to be honest; I forgot about my note-taking task and was just taken by Secretary Clinton’s words. Secretary Clinton shared a personal anecdote. She recalled visiting the AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1996 (link here)\ with President Clinton and requesting to see the panels that had names of friends she had lost to AIDS.  She called the moment devastating when she saw how enormous the AIDS Memorial Quilt was.  The quilt has not been displayed together that year; it had gotten too big, too many people kept dying; too many panels kept being added. 

Secretary Clinton urged the audience to be encouraged and inspired by what has been done so far. She made a call to restore the faith, to renew our purpose, so that when we finally reach that goal, “we can truly honor those who have been lost.”

And I cried some more. I cried for José Luis, for Salvador, for Miguel. I cried for Fernando, for Señor Aguirre, for Heriberto, for Aisha, for Randolfo. Some tears were for Armando, and some were for Gustavo, for Pablito and for Jonathan, and Ellen, Tita, Martha and Wanda. But there were new tears of hope knowing that we are closer than ever to a world without AIDS.

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