"It's a birthday party!" A sentence like this gives the impression of a light-hearted celebration, a happy occasion - not the 20th anniversary of AIDS, arguably the gravest public health crisis today.
In order to commemorate World AIDS Day, the UB AIDS Coalition held court in the Student Union Friday to raise awareness of the terrible disease and educate students on its effects. To promote the event, an ad proclaiming the disease's birthday ran continuously on the UB movie channels in between films like "Shrek" and "The Mummy Returns." The ad promised "games and prizes!" and "food and entertainment!" Attendees could participate in a "World AIDS Day scavenger hunt" while testing their "HIV and AIDS knowledge."
The overall tone set was one of previous festivities like WRUB TV day or President Greiner's 10th anniversary party, and not befitting of such a subject fraught with such serious consequences. The organizers were correct in reasoning that students would not attend an event designed to bludgeon them over the head about the severity of the disease - nobody appreciates being lectured at. But their attempt at a more effective marketing strategy failed as well.
Judging by the tone of the message, the coalition may have intended to use their birthday analogy to contrast the happiness of a party with the severity of the disease by striving for irony. But to be ironic, logic dictates irony is needed. "It's a birthday party!" followed by the statistic that well over 400,000 Americans have died of AIDS since 1981 does not have even the slightest ironic intonation. Without that well-placed jab of reality to contrast the ebullient images of celebration and party, the message fails to hit its mark and ends up coming off creepy and mocking.
Far more disturbing, however, is the United Nations report accompanying the anniversary of the dread virus' first diagnosis. Since its discovery, AIDS has infected an excess of 60 million people. The disease is the fastest-growing epidemic in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation. But, it is the African continent, particularly sub-Saharan countries, that is faced with decimation on a mind-boggling scale. Over two million Africans have died from AIDS so far this year. The estimated three million new infections by year's end bring the total of infected people south of the Sahara to just over 28 million.
In the early days of his administration, President Bush decided to retain the Clinton administration's policy of maintaining a low price for AIDS drugs imported by low-income countries. Bush's White House also abandoned its intention to close an executive AIDS policy office opened under the previous administration. For the most part, however, the administration has maintained a low profile on the issue while its attention was consumed by other political and policy concerns prior to Sept. 11 and the war afterward.
Much of HIV's spread is the result of ignorance about the disease - how it's spread and how it can be treated. In Haiti, where five percent of the population is infected, voodoo priests treat ill patients with extended rests inside coffins. A conspiracy theory claiming the HIV virus is inside condoms from the West scares some African men away from using them.
Condoms and low-cost drugs can arrest the spread of the disease and slow its effects, but they fail to treat the root cause of the illness. A lack of fundamental education regarding the disease is sustaining the pandemic's current life. A firm commitment on the part of the administration to provide funding for overseas HIV/AIDS education, coupled with a determination to work with international organizations to effectively use these resources to slow transmission rates, is necessary. Nations have been successful in turning back a rising tide of infection, like Ukraine, or keeping their infections low, like Cuba.
As Sept. 11 demonstrated, ours is a world where events in far-off lands can impact our lives here. The world's problems are our problems. If left unchecked, the AIDS scourge sweeping across other parts of the world will find its way to American shores. The administration can take effect action now to prevent that. An ounce of prevention can save a pound of cure - and millions of lives.
