LLU professor attends AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa

More than 14,000 delegates from the global communities interested in HIV/AIDS attended the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, in mid-2000.

Among the U.S. delegates was John E. Lewis, PhD, professor of pathology and human anatomy and microbiology, School of Medicine, and professor of clinical laboratory science, School of Allied Health Professions.

The theme for the 2000 AIDS conference was "Break the Silence."

Dr. Lewis reports that the reality of this theme was clearly articulated as the interaction between the "haves" and "have nots" (resource-rich and resource-poor countries) unfolded with frank discussion and tragic revelations of the toll that HIV/AIDS takes, and continues to take, in Africa. Never before has the world's attention been so focused on the problems of AIDS on this continent.

Delegates from all over the world had ample opportunity to dialogue during break-out sessions and table discussions. A sense of unity and purpose was refreshingly obvious.

HIV-positive participants, clearly visible in their yellow "HIV Positive"

T-shirts, were encouraged to mix with the delegates and discuss their concerns. Dr. Lewis comments that "it was during some of these chats that I really heard first-hand the problems that face HIV-positive people in Africa."

HIV/AIDS has already reversed more than 30 years of hard-won social progress in some sub-Saharan African countries.

"In Africa, the death toll from HIV--which is transmitted by heterosexual sex in 90 percent of the cases--will soon eclipse that of the 14th century plague which killed 20 million Europeans," reports Dr. Lewis.

Already, more than 4.2 million South Africans are HIV-infected.