AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #210, November 4, 1994
John S. James
The meeting will seek:
* Funding for international research programs to develop vaccines and better treatment;
* Agreements to reduce discrimination against people with AIDS, including travel bans like those of the United States and many Arab countries;
* Access to health care -- including prevention, education, and treatment for vulnerable population groups;
* "A more effective global response to the AIDS pandemic based upon the basic principles of respect for individual rights and moral ethics."
The preparatory meetings have found that developing countries are interested, but the developed countries, who would have to supply much of the funding, are often reluctant.
U.S. Press Coverage -- No News
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS did computer searches of the full text of all stories in several dozen leading U.S. newspapers, and found only six that even mentioned the Paris summit once. None mentioned it more than once. Only Reuters, the international news service, cover the summit effectively.
Of the five U.S. newspapers that mentioned the summit, two devoted two short paragraphs each. One had two sentences; the other two, one sentence each. This may be the total U.S. press coverage so far.
What is more alarming are reports of responsible U.S. officials, and leading AIDS experts in private organizations, not even knowing about preparatory meetings, after the preparations were well under way.
The U.S. delegation to the Paris summit will be headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala; it had been hoped that at least Vice President Gore would attend this summit, planned as a meeting of heads of state. Also, it appears that Japan is willing to make a serious financial commitment to stopping the global epidemic, but the U.S. is offering little new money.
The commitment of many countries will be influenced by what the U.S. does. A commitment comparable to that at the recent Cairo meeting (the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, where the U.S. delegation was led by Vice President Gore), would support the French effort to build momentum for an effective international AIDS response.
Note that the Cairo conference attracted enormous U.S. government and media attention, even though population is not seen as a bread-and-butter issue that directly affects most people in the U.S. AIDS affects individuals much more severely, yet a comparable international meeting on AIDS has received almost no attention. Perhaps we can study this example to learn how to better mobilize interest, attention, and support in the future.
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