Race Against Time
Last night I attended the last of the 2005 Massey Lectures. This year, Stephen Lewis was the lecturer -- his series bore the title of his latest book: Race Against Time. If the series could have a tagline, it would be this quote from Lewis: "I have spent the last four years watching people die." Lewis' topic was the plight of Africa under the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
There are many who may not remember Lewis -- or simply never knew him, although he was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2005, listed under their "heroes and icons" section. Lewis, soon to be 68, started his public career early -- he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario at age 26, while still attending school at the University of Toronto. From there, he moved on to leading the provincial NDP party, then to being a journalist, before being appointed in 1984 to be Canada's ambassador to the UN. From there, he joined the UN, filling roles such as the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF; commissioner of the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants; to now serving as the Secretary General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. This is a role that fate seemed to have designed for Lewis -- pitting a humanitarian with excellent oratory skills to a role where there is a desperate need for a champion. It is a role that Lewis embraces with obvious passion, so much so that it takes its toll on his person.
Last night's lecture, the last in the series, was titled Solutions: A Gallery of Alternatives in Good Faith. In his lecture, Lewis does a recap of his previous lectures to provide context. His one hour lecture, that was followed by 20-minutes of Q&A, was a rapid fire of facts, figures and a deep emotional plea for something to be done about the pandemic in Africa. Lewis tore into the US, the UN, the G8, the WTO and the WMF for their inaction and contrary efforts; into the complacency of rich nations of the planet and their unending broken promises. While he acknowledged the efforts and progress that has been made, he didn't mask his disdain for the bureaucrats that continue to do little against the HIV/AIDS tide -- naming some of them by names. He alluded a number of times that he is far from being popular for the noise he's making -- and if the job doesn't drive him to quit, he'll most likely fall from his role, a casualty of politics.
When you understand where Lewis has been, what he has seen and what he knows, you understand where he comes from with his criticism. In his latest role, Lewis has traveled extensively in Africa, working to curb the pandemic by influencing leaders and corralling the desperately needed support. The statistics are staggering: 65% of the world's AIDS infections are in Africa; 14 million children in Africa are orphaned by AIDS. Africa is heading to a place the world has never seen before -- where the young adults are dying off, and remaining are children and their grandparents. Women are the hardest hit, and Lewis specifically points out the total disregard the world has for half its population -- especially since with women, he believes progress can be made to stem the tide. For Lewis, these aren't just statistics, numbers to be dealt with by an actuary's mind -- these are people, faces, names and friends that he has lost. While the remain nameless and far away, they are persons and close at heart for him. The anguish he has seen came across in his lecture.
The lecture ended with prophetic question from an audience member. If we, the rich of the world, don't do something to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic for altruistic reasons -- shouldn't we be doing it for selfish reasons? At the rate at which infection is growing world wide, when does it become a problem right here in our own countries? It was a good question. A question that Lewis didn't really answer, because it was an open question to all of us. We need to do something. We have voices, and we can raise them loud. We lend them to the NGOs. We can persuade our governments to focus efforts into the UN organization to combat HIV/AIDS. We can persuade our governments to commit the 0.7% of our GDP that was promised for Africa, but has never been delivered. Lewis ended with a question about our values as a human race. We spend trillions on arms annually. Why can't we afford $50 billion to save Africa?
The 2005 Massey Lectures will be aired on CBC One's Ideas on Nov. 7-11th. If you've missed the lectures, you can tune in to hear them. The Ideas program airs at 9PM eastern.
Related reading:
There are many who may not remember Lewis -- or simply never knew him, although he was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2005, listed under their "heroes and icons" section. Lewis, soon to be 68, started his public career early -- he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario at age 26, while still attending school at the University of Toronto. From there, he moved on to leading the provincial NDP party, then to being a journalist, before being appointed in 1984 to be Canada's ambassador to the UN. From there, he joined the UN, filling roles such as the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF; commissioner of the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants; to now serving as the Secretary General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. This is a role that fate seemed to have designed for Lewis -- pitting a humanitarian with excellent oratory skills to a role where there is a desperate need for a champion. It is a role that Lewis embraces with obvious passion, so much so that it takes its toll on his person.
Last night's lecture, the last in the series, was titled Solutions: A Gallery of Alternatives in Good Faith. In his lecture, Lewis does a recap of his previous lectures to provide context. His one hour lecture, that was followed by 20-minutes of Q&A, was a rapid fire of facts, figures and a deep emotional plea for something to be done about the pandemic in Africa. Lewis tore into the US, the UN, the G8, the WTO and the WMF for their inaction and contrary efforts; into the complacency of rich nations of the planet and their unending broken promises. While he acknowledged the efforts and progress that has been made, he didn't mask his disdain for the bureaucrats that continue to do little against the HIV/AIDS tide -- naming some of them by names. He alluded a number of times that he is far from being popular for the noise he's making -- and if the job doesn't drive him to quit, he'll most likely fall from his role, a casualty of politics.
When you understand where Lewis has been, what he has seen and what he knows, you understand where he comes from with his criticism. In his latest role, Lewis has traveled extensively in Africa, working to curb the pandemic by influencing leaders and corralling the desperately needed support. The statistics are staggering: 65% of the world's AIDS infections are in Africa; 14 million children in Africa are orphaned by AIDS. Africa is heading to a place the world has never seen before -- where the young adults are dying off, and remaining are children and their grandparents. Women are the hardest hit, and Lewis specifically points out the total disregard the world has for half its population -- especially since with women, he believes progress can be made to stem the tide. For Lewis, these aren't just statistics, numbers to be dealt with by an actuary's mind -- these are people, faces, names and friends that he has lost. While the remain nameless and far away, they are persons and close at heart for him. The anguish he has seen came across in his lecture.
The lecture ended with prophetic question from an audience member. If we, the rich of the world, don't do something to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic for altruistic reasons -- shouldn't we be doing it for selfish reasons? At the rate at which infection is growing world wide, when does it become a problem right here in our own countries? It was a good question. A question that Lewis didn't really answer, because it was an open question to all of us. We need to do something. We have voices, and we can raise them loud. We lend them to the NGOs. We can persuade our governments to focus efforts into the UN organization to combat HIV/AIDS. We can persuade our governments to commit the 0.7% of our GDP that was promised for Africa, but has never been delivered. Lewis ended with a question about our values as a human race. We spend trillions on arms annually. Why can't we afford $50 billion to save Africa?
The 2005 Massey Lectures will be aired on CBC One's Ideas on Nov. 7-11th. If you've missed the lectures, you can tune in to hear them. The Ideas program airs at 9PM eastern.
Related reading:
- Great Speaker, Great Cause -- passionate words from another who attended last night's lecture.
- UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS -- where the GA adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, "Global Crisis -- Global Action."
- UN Development Programme -- Africa
- AIDS in Africa: Three scenarios to 2025 -- publication of the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
- UNIFEM -- UN Portal focusing on the women and HIV/AIDS
- A Call to Action: Children the missing face of AIDS -- a UNICEF publication focusing on the plight of children living the pandemic
- Preventing HIV Infection, Promoting Reproductive Health -- 2005 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS
- 2005 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS -- Interview with Stephen Lewis
- AIDS in Africa -- the US State Department site on AIDS in Africa
- AVERT.ORG -- an international AIDS charity
- HIV/AIDS: a rural issue -- a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
- Bush accused of Aids damage to Africa -- a UK Guardian report on Lewis' reaction to the condom shortage in Africa
- Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa -- Lewis speaks at UNESCO in favour of gender mainstreaming (includes the streaming video)
- Stephen Lewis: Taking on AIDS in Africa -- an interview of Lewis in 2001, a week after he was appointed to his latest post (includes streaming audio)
- Keynote by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa [PDF] -- given to the "Microbicides 2004" conference in London, Tuesday, March 30, 2004
- UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa -- interview of Lewis on Dec. 1, 2004, on the eve of World's AIDS Day (includes streaming audio)
- Harvard School of Public Health Commencement 2005 -- Lewis addressed HSPH during their commencement ceremonies on June 9, 2005 (includes streaming audio)
- 11th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections -- Lewis gave the keynote address to the Feb, 2004 WHO conference
- Global Health Council's Annual Conference [PDF] -- speech by Lewis to the May 2003 conference
- “A pandemic within the pandemic” [PDF] -- news release from Lewis at the 2004 AIDS Conference, highlighting the plight of women and girls with AIDS
- Shadow on the continent [PDF] -- public health and HIC/AIDS in Africa in the 21st century
- Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS [PDF] -- the what, the why and the how; a publication of the International Center for Research on Women
- The Macro Implications of HIV/AIDS in South Africa [PDF] -- a report looking at the economic impact
- The global impact of HIV/AIDS [PDF] -- article from the journal Nature
- Mandela HSRC Study of HIV/AIDS [PDF] -- South African National HIV Prevalence, Behavioural Risks and Mass Media, Household Survey 2002
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