World AIDS Week brings varying voices on health, policy

After earning a master’s in public health, Wilson School professor Joseph Amon headed to Togo to spend two years conducting fieldwork to combat the guinea worm, a parasite whose painful infections have been documented since the second century B.C. During his time there, he came up with the “Guinea Worm Cup,” a soccer tournament for local children and young adults.

The tournament was a success. It was not only fun and community-oriented but also educated attendees about the prevalence of guinea worm parasites in their area. An interactive halftime show featured skits and creative presentations that highlighted the disease’s harms, symptoms, treatments and prevention. The long-lasting impact of the tournament and similar educational events quickly became evident to Amon and his colleagues.

“While I was still in Togo, we saw the number of guinea worm cases decrease by 50 percent each year,” he said. “We also realized that the same strategy could be used with combating other diseases, including HIV.”

This was one of many findings and personal anecdotes that Amon shared Monday night at an informal dinner discussion hosted by the University’s chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign as part of the annual World AIDS Week.

During his talk, titled “Bridging the Gap: HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Issues,” Amon spoke about the experiences and revelations that led him to his current position as director of the health and human rights division of Human Rights Watch, a nongovernmental organization that encourages governments to uphold their constitutions and basic human rights.

The main challenge in addressing HIV around the world is not a lack of scientific progress, but the restrictive policies of countries most in need of strong public health programs, Amon said.

“We have a lot of the answers,” Amon said. “We know what works. We know that male circumcision reduces rate of HIV transmission. We know sexual education is important.”

A lack of equality between women and men also keeps the HIV rate high, he added. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, 13 women are infected for every 10 men, partially due to social and cultural pressures that limit women’s access to treatment and compel them to sometimes practice unsafe sex at young ages.

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Though gender inequality is an accepted cause of higher HIV rates, many governments have been reluctant to act.

“Denying information about health safety measures is a violation of the right to health,” Amon said. “But how do we get the government to implement the necessary policies?”

Amon also pointed to a host of political and cultural pressures that often hide from public view the people who most need the latest drugs and technology.

Social stigma prevents many gay men from openly buying condoms and seeking HIV treatments. Progress in the gay community is blocked by the “79 countries around the world that criminalize gay behavior, including six that use the death penalty against sodomy,” Amon explained.

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There is also limited access to breakthrough treatments like Truvada, a daily preventive drug that has been shown to dramatically decrease the risk of contracting HIV. It is not widely available in many African countries because of corrupt government policies and the high cost of the drug. Many married women do not take it because they do not see themselves in high-risk situations, though they are often still at risk from their partners, who may contract HIV from prostitutes.

Many students at the dinner were eager to participate in the dialogue. Claudia Solis-Roman ’11, a Wilson School major writing her thesis on HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals in Brazil, said she found the discussion to be “very engaging, particularly because Professor Amon has an interdisciplinary background in econ, parasitology and policy.”

Monday’s dinner discussion was one of many events being hosted as part of World AIDS Week. On Thursday, Wilson School professor Adel Mahmoud will deliver the keynote lecture on the challenges of fighting AIDS both from a scientific and policy perspective. A Friday dinner discussion featuring sociology professor Matt Salganik will discuss the relationship between social networks and AIDS.

The Student Global AIDS Campaign also had a information table in Frist Campus Center, where it sold red “HUGS” T-shirts to be worn today, in recognition of World AIDS Day. Members are also encouraging students to call New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg and urge him to support federal funding for HIV research.

The annual AIDS Week, hosted by the SGAC, is a collaborative effort of a variety of campus organizations, including the LGBT Center, Manna Christian Fellowship, Princeton African Development Initiative and Sexual Health Advisors.

“AIDS affects so many people around me,” said Wilhemina Koomson ’14, a member of SGAC. “The campaign gives me a firsthand opportunity to help make people aware of what AIDS is and clear its many misunderstandings.”