March takes on AIDS

About 100 UNC students joined a crowd of thousands in the nation's capital Saturday to rally for policy change relating to the AIDS epidemic, which kills 8,000 people each day.

The Student March Against AIDS will go down as the second largest anti-AIDS rally in U.S. history, the last one being about 10 years ago, and UNC participants say they're hopeful their demands for improved

treatment and prevention will be heard.

"As a democracy, we have the ability to influence policy," said Rachel Fischoff, president of UNC's chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, the national sponsor of the march. "And as U.S. citizens, we have not only the ability but the responsibility to change things."

During the rally, students said the federal government hasn't reached its potential to alleviate the crisis.

They marched from the White House to Capitol Hill, rallying for debt cancellation, production of cheaper medication through fair trade, comprehensive sex education, more money for the global AIDS fund and continuation of the Ryan White CARE Act, which meets the health care needs of AIDS patients.

UNC students hope their participation will motivate those on campus. "It's incredible to me it's not more in the spotlight at UNC," said junior Kelley Haven, who attended the march. "People just don't seem to know anything about it."

Haven's interest in the epidemic was piqued in a public policy course. Now she works at a Carrboro AIDS home, is directly involved in HIV vaccine trials at UNC Hospitals and helps fund AIDS treatment in communities in Uganda and Malawi.

"AIDS is an issue that once you become involved, it just drags you in," Haven said. "Once you know the basic facts, there's no way you can turn away from it."

A fall 2003 semester of study abroad in South Africa, where many students interned with groups that combat AIDS, inspired three students to bring the movement to UNC. Fischoff and seniors Annie Bachrach and Michi Nair co-founded a local chapter of the global campaign the next semester, said Bachrach, who organized UNC students' travel to the rally.

The chapter has spent the past year trying to educate the student body about AIDS but will take steps toward becoming more political, UNC senior Kavitha Kolappa said during a workshop she helped lead for Sunday's Youth Summit to End AIDS. "Our focus has been mostly awareness," Kolappa said.

Students framed AIDS as a social justice issue, not just a health problem. Pre-march speakers such as Kolappa, a member of SGAC's national steering committee, stressed that those most affected by AIDS are those most often denied access to medication and education -- minorities, women and the poor.

"The privilege I've been afforded in the First World comes at the expense of the Third World," Kolappa told the crowd. "I don't want my daily Starbucks if my counterparts in the Third World can't afford medication and condoms."

Dismissing "band-aid" solutions, ralliers said the problem is rooted in the structure of the world economy. A June meeting of the world's richest nations, the G8 Summit, likely will begin a process of canceling debts owed by some poor countries.

"The pivotal issue now is the fight for debt cancellation," said senior Marce Abare, coordinator of international partnerships for SGAC's steering committee. "It's either going to come off this year or not."

Abare's planning helped make the march part of a worldwide movement Saturday called Global Day of Youth Action, which included a meeting of nongovernmental organizations in India and a rally of 15,000 students in Cameroon.

Students hoped to show their disapproval of President Bush's proposed plan to cut funding for the global AIDS fund and to give $15 billion to 14 countries through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. One-third of that money will go toward abstinence-only education, Kolappa said.

The mobilization against AIDS might follow in the tradition of radical youth-led reforms such as the civil rights movement, she said.

"It's a really big deal because the march was completely organized by students," she said. "We're at a pivotal point in history. It could be a watershed moment."

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.