AEGiS-IAPAC: 'Focus on our human bond'

'Focus on our human bond'

IAPAC Monthly - Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2002
José M. Zuniga

Editor's Note: The following speech was delivered December 8, 2001, by Jose M. Zuniga, President of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), at an association-hosted luncheon at which former US President William Jefferson Clinton received IAPAC's 2001 Dag Hammarskjold Award. The luncheon was attended by, among other dignitaries, former US Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley.

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary, esteemed colleagues, distinguished guests:

We are gathered here this afternoon, during a most turbulent of times for our nation and for much of the world, to pay tribute to a national and global statesman-former President William Jefferson Clinton.

Our recent collective experience has enabled us to see with greater clarity all for which we should be thankful, as well as everything toward which we must still endeavor. In the light of what these past months have taught us, we come together to pay tribute and to express our gratitude to President Clinton for his leadership in advancing the issue of HIV/AIDS to the forefront of American public policy and international attention. We do so now both in full cognizance of what such public service means, and with renewed conviction to defend our humanity as we have been reminded of both its delicate nature and how much it truly is a shared and mutual phenomenon.

As we direct our attention to the challenge of stemming the AIDS pandemic, our most crucial task is to remain focused on our human bond, and to let this bond guide our actions across geographic, cultural, ethnic, and political boundaries. We cannot afford to waiver in our appreciation of the shared worldwide burden that is HIV/AIDS. Yet, this responsibility for the health of every human being, though he or she may often be an ocean away, is not mutually exclusive of our desire to provide for our own health, well-being, and security.

For example, despite a continuing decrease in the number of new HIV infections in the United States-achieved in large measure thanks to the Clinton Administration's efforts-we must remember that we remain inextricably bound, each to the other, in this global society in which diseases discriminate against no one and recognize no boundaries. If a single one of us is in danger, we are all threatened.

Bearing in mind our shared risk and responsibility, if we pan our gaze across the vast landscape of this globe, we see a world that is reeling from the toll that AIDS is taking on humanity. As of December 2001, 40 million children and adults throughout the world are living with HIV disease. This represents an increase of 4 million from last year this time. In Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia, the regions most severely affected by the AIDS pandemic, most of the available statistics are especially grave.

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