“AIDS: Taking a Long Term View” is the much anticipated report from the aids2031 Consortium, a worldwide group of AIDS scientists, health officials, activists, and experts who have come together to look at the global AIDS response 30 years after the disease was first reported and recommend the best way forward over the next 20 years in this ongoing crisis.
The Clark University International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) department and George Perkins Marsh Institute will present the new book and a special panel discussion from 4 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Tilton Hall, 950 Main Street.
“This important book outlines the challenges and opportunities before us as the AIDS epidemic-and our global response-turns 30. aids2031 gives us a roadmap for the next two decades: By addressing the social and economic forces driving the AIDS epidemic, we can attack both the disease and the root causes of the poverty that is its close companion,” said Paul Farmer, Chair, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Partners in Health.
“This book presents a compelling argument by the aids2031 Consortium, showing why the international community must adopt a long-term view of the AIDS pandemic. It reminds us that our actions today are crucial to the survival of millions tomorrow.” ~ Kofi A. Annan, Former UN Secretary-General
When the U.N. embarked on the aids2031 project and sought a hub to coordinate the global initiative, it selected Clark to host the aids2031 Project Management Unit, which coordinated nine working groups—including economists, epidemiologists, biomedical, social and political scientists—to question conventional wisdom, stimulate new research, encourage public debate, and uncover new evidence. Each group explored different aspects of the future of AIDS. Clark co-convened the Social Drivers Working Group. Several Clark faculty, students and alumni have been involved in the aids2031 project.
William F. Fisher, IDCE director, will moderate the panel discussion at the promotional event for “AIDS: Taking a Long Term View.” Other panelists include:
Jeffrey L. Sturchio, president and CEO of the Global Health Council. Before joining the Council, he was vice president of Corporate Responsibility at Merck & Co. Inc., president of The Merck Company Foundation and chairman of the U. S. Corporate Council on Africa. He is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Applied Economics and the Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Healthy Next Generation of the World Economic Forum.
Michael Isbell, an independent consultant specializing in public health policy, strategic advocacy planning, and health-related communications. Isbell has been involved in AIDS work for more than two decades. He directed the AIDS project at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the largest gay and lesbian legal rights organization in the U.S.; directed the public policy and education programs at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City; and served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Bill Clinton.
Jessica Ogden, director/owner of Ogden Health & Development Connections, focuses on developing guidance for international HIV policy and programs around structural approaches and quality in prevention. She has been working as a social anthropologist in public health for more than 20 years. She was on staff at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine from 1995 through 2001 and worked as a technical specialist at the International Center for Research on Women in the HIV/AIDS and Development Unit. , and acted as Senior Technical Advisor to ICRW’s President, working on a range of topics relating to HIV-related stigma, HIV policy, structural approaches to HIV prevention, and gender.
