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A View of the World at
Bangkok

e world united in_the struggle
I to confront HIV/AIDS con-
verged on Bangkok for the XV

lntemational AIDS Conference, July
11-16. Record registration of 19,843
“delegates,” underscored the global
condition of HIV/AIDS and its
spread. “Delegate” designation
harkens back to the founding of the
United Nations upon the devastation
of World War II, when the U.S. gov-
ernment was truly inspired in its lead-

~ ership. I was proud to be a delegate

among my international fellows in
Bangkok. I was not proud of the U.S.
govemment.

American medical practi-
tioners and scientific researchers,
activists, loved ones — all those
affected by and caring about
HIV/AIDS — have been cherished
team members and leaders in the
ranks of those fighting the incredible
human plague, a devastation beyond
the 70 million thus far infected, the
30 million dead. We 70 million
impact the struggles to live of so
many hundreds of millions more.

My first international con-
ference as a person living with
HIV/AIDS was in 1992 in
Amsterdam, when Harvard
University had to ‘host it from the
Netherlands, since the first Bush gov-
ernment would not allow infected
participants to enter the U.S. At least
then our key government researchers,
among the 3,000 Americans attending
the conference, were in full presence.
(Then-candidate Bill Clinton’s party
included a platfonn plank that recog-

I . nized AIDS with needed frankness

and commitment.)

Beforethe 2004 Bangkok
conference, the current Bush
Administration limited participation
of medical researchers from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
and the Center for Disease Control
(CDC) to 50 (236 attended the XIV
conference two years ago in
Barcelona). The lame excuse was that

. the travel money would be better

spent on research. Most of us know
that the limitation was because the
world fighting HIV/AIDS has under-
standing and vision beyond the Bush
ideologues. Conference organizers
regarded the restrictions as “shame-
ful” and expressed how much the
Americans forbidden participation by
their own government would be
missed by their intemational col-
leagues.

At the opening ceremony,

 

nsit r

Thai and international activists staged
a well-organized, principled, and
peaceful march to the entrance of the
mammoth “Impact” conference cen-
ter. Articulate, energetic regardless of
their health or limited means, they
called for equity in the global strug-
gle, realization of the plight of mar-
ginalized groups, and that in all soci-
eties HIV/AIDS is the sparrow in the
mineshafi; Special attention focused
on helping Thai drug users who had
experienced murderous police, and
misdirected public health policies.
The President of the lntemational
AIDS Society, Director of the
UNAIDS program, and Thai hosts
came to receive letters from the pro-
testers and to interact with those
assembled. I

In this atmosphere of dem-
ocratic discourse, it was announced

that Randall Tobias, President Bush’s -

Global AIDS Coordinator, had been
invited, but refiised to come. Like the

first President Bush, who would not ,

visit the AIDS Quilt spread on Mall
in 1991, Tobias declined the opportu-
nity to relate, choosing instead to dis-
tance himself from the humanity of

the epidemic. Tommy Thompson,

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services, Chairman of the Board of
the Global Fund for AIDS, '
Tuberculosis and Malaria .(The
Global Fund) was no where to be
seen in Bangkok.‘

Everyone from UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan,
Nelson Mandela and grassroots
activists from developing and devel-
oped world find the Global Fund the
entity most worthy and needing of
additional support. In his conference
speech, Tobias intoned that the
Global Fund has not proven itself,
and therefore didn’t yet merit the
additional funds from the U.S. that so
many have urged. (Howard Dean
pledged a significant increase in his
campaign, and John Kerry does so in

his.) One wonders while still living
with the destruction of going it alone
in Iraq outside the UN, that we plow
new ground to go it alone in the
midstof global mass destruction that
is hidden only to those who close
their eyes. I i

The past two years and this ’

conference itself brought no astound-
ing medical breakthroughs in
HIV/AIDS. However, the body of
knowledge built. up over the years,
including the linkage of care to pre-
véntion, forni bases to halt the
progress of AIDS. Fulsome attention

. to funding, education, drug supply,

training of health care workers — if
properly implemented — will reduce
igfections and improve quality of life
for those infected, their families and
societies. We must keep pressure on
finding creative means to lower
prices and ensure accessibility for all
who need life-prolonging drugs. We

V must provide economic empower-

ment, legal protections, and rational
and compassionate religious, cultural
and social involvement. The health of
all — even the humanity of all — is

. impossible withoutremoving stigma,

discrimination, and abuse.

Thai participants and 2,000
volunteers at the conference, includ-
ing those materially poor or “margin-
alized” in social status, brought
smiles and humor in their welcomes
to us and to each other. That spirit
was mirrored by a small group of
American Peace Corps volunteers
who had come from various villages
in Thailand. These young Americans
symbolize our potential to do good
when the United States will again be
led by a government that is not afraid
of “the other” but knows, like those
of us in the world of HIV/AIDS, that
we are truly part of the human family.

Our separation, our fear, the
arrogance and selfishness that accom-
pany them, are harmful to us all —
including the consequences to our
social fabric and the blocks to real-
ization of our ideals and spiritual
potential. V

Augustus “Gus” Nasmith, Jn attend-
ed the XV International AIDS
Conference in Bangkok, Thailand
(July 11 - I6, 2004) participating for
AIDS, Medicine &,Miracles,' the
Vermont People with AIDS Coalition;
Vermont CARES. These comments are
his own and speak for no
organization.

it