Conference focuses on poor, growing HIV/AIDS dilemma

A lecture that took place Oct. 6 and 7 in David Lawrence Hall brought AIDS, war and other… A lecture that took place Oct. 6 and 7 in David Lawrence Hall brought AIDS, war and other issues to the forefront through film and lecture.

“What kind of people are we, how did we come to this point, and where are we going?”

The third annual “Global Problems, Global Solutions to Health, Dignity, and Human Rights Conference” posed these questions to an audience watching the opening scenes of a movie depicting a sick child dying of AIDS in a rundown hospital.

“Even the basic human right to health does not exist” for these people slowly dying of AIDS in Africa and all around the world, according to the movie.

A documentary called “A Closer Walk,” which recorded the worsening AIDS dilemma throughout the world, kicked off the event on Friday, despite a technical glitch that threatened to cancel this portion of the event. The documentary started just as a large group of frustrated audience members began to leave.

The film started off in Africa and became more universal by informing people that HIV/AIDS is not just an African disease, and that it affects other countries like Russia, the Ukraine and India.

According to the film, the spread of the disease in Russia and the Ukraine is largely from used, dirty drug needles. In India, the government completely denies that AIDS exists in its population, even in the face of millions of people reporting that they have contracted this disease.

“For children in these countries, if AIDS doesn’t kill you, it makes you an orphan,” the Dalai Lama said in the film.

The film ended by showing the current status of those interviewed in the documentary, many of whom died soon after its completion. As the lights came back on, many were holding back the tears in their eyes.

“If there was any riveting part of the film, it was at the end,” Stephanie Palumbo, a Pitt junior, said.

Donald S. Burke spoke about what Pittsburgh could do to accomplish the “8 Millennium Development Goals” by 2015.

The goals, set forth by the United Nations, include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing the child mortality rate, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development.

Burke offered solutions that would urge businesses to develop vaccines, such as subsidizing their research, offering them liability protection or an advanced market commitment, meaning the government would guarantee a specific company that it will buy a set amount of the vaccine if it meets all of the requirements.

He ended with stressing that there is a “deep talent pool in Pittsburgh and this city has a real opportunity to make a difference in global health.”

Quoting an African proverb, Burke added, “The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The next best time to plant a tree is now.”

The second day of the conference focused on global development and aid. Kollo Basile said the health care system needs to be restructured, and it is unacceptable that citizens die from very common ailments because richer nations lack the motivation to bring very cheap medicines to these poorer nations.

Although there were several workshop choices, including “Aids and Infectious Diseases” and “Why War, How Peace,” Stephanie Palumbo attended the “Emerging Issues in Africa: Child Soldiers, Global Implications” because of Cecil Blake.

“Dr. Blake is so real and probably the most to-the-point presenter here,” she said. “It’s solemn, but that’s the whole subject.”

In Blake’s workshop clips were shown of a firing squad shooting people dead. With a closer examination, the audience discovered that young children were among those being killed, which shocked many.

The video preceded a discussion where Blake explained the challenges involved with confronting the issue of child soldiers, not only in Africa but around the world.

“I can’t believe more students weren’t here,” Palumbo said.

Janet Checkley agreed with Palumbo and said the event discussed important issues, so it surprised her that it was not more prominently advertised around campus.

At the end of the day, Paul LeBlanc said he wanted those in attendance to take away the ability to “be more clearly aware of global problems that face us and realize that there are solutions to those problems.”