Health Roundtable

The HIV/AIDS virus began to affect Africa in a substantial way at approximately the same time that AFJN was coming into existence. However, for the first several years at least, AFJN was not working on it. Perhaps at that time it was not easy to see the connection between the sickness on the ground in Africa and US policy. It was only with time that various aspects of US policy began to catch the attention of people who were working with AIDS patients in Africa or working on advocacy in the U.S.

At a meeting in 1988 the Board of Directors named AIDS as one of the ‘areas of concern’ that AFJN was to take on. The Annual Meeting in October 1989 featured Maryknoll father and doctor, Scott Harris, who gave a much appreciative and informative keynote speech on the disease and its implications for the Church in Africa. One of the more interesting anecdotes in AFJN’s history is that at one point in 1992 Dr. Gallo, of the National Institute of Health (NIH), was threatening to sue AFJN over claims AFJN had made that Gallo was experimenting with AIDS drugs on children in Zaire without informing the government. A consultation was held on the subject with representatives of the NIH, the State Department and the French and Zairean embassies in collaboration with the CTFA and the USCCB. A later meeting between Dr. Gallo and the Chair of the Board of Directors calmed spirits but AFJN had definitely touched a nerve. Undaunted, Maura Browne and her staff continued to monitor the situation in Africa, collecting articles and publications on AIDS and sending questionnaires to people in Africa who were dealing with AIDS.

The 1991-92 Operational Plan listed AIDS under areas of Justice and Peace needing to be singled out for special attention and action. In 1992, we find that the Annual Meeting featured a talk by Dr. Jean Mouch on the subject of AIDS. Other than that, the office continued a low level information gathering and sharing, collaborating with other groups until Carole Collins came on staff in 2000. She became very involved in the HIV/AIDS Working Group of the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA). That group produced six ‘one-pagers’ on different aspects of AIDS in Africa. Those documents were hand delivered to all the offices of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The AIDS Working Group also helped to publicize the regrettable court case in South Africa wherein 39 companies had sued the government to question the constitutionality of beginning “parallel importing” and “compulsory licensing” measures that would have provided AIDS medication at more affordable rates. The United States was threatening South Africa with trade sanctions for allowing these practices that were legal under the WTO. Eventually, the United States backed off the threat but tried to achieve their objectives by other means. The pharmaceutical companies lost their case in the courts.

AIDS work rather quickly then became entwined with Trade work as WTO regulations were making it difficult for many African countries to get hold of affordable medicines. In 2001, AFJN lobbied with others to support compulsory licensing, which gave countries that were in a medical crisis the right to license AIDS drugs and sell them at cheaper prices. Much of this work ended up in the HR 933, “The Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines for Poor Countries Act.”

With the Catholic Task Force on Africa, AFJN wrote letters to President Bush and to the Congress arguing the need for greater appropriations for bi-lateral HIV/AIDS programs and for the Global Fund. Throughout the last few years, the newsletter and the website have provided several informational articles on the HIV/AIDS situation in Africa and the state of policy in Washington. Bishop Kevin Dowling was invited to address the 2005 Annual Meeting in Tucson, Arizona. His personal witness and his intelligent discussion of the touchy particulars surrounding funding and treatment of HIV/AIDS inspired the members, who awarded him with the 2005 Faith & Justice Award.

Different staff members have worked over the last few years with the Health Care Working Group in Washington, DC. They have concentrated at different times on issues of AIDS and children and more recently on the lack of health care workers in Africa. Their efforts helped produce Senate Bill 850 calling for more funding for the training of health care workers for Africa. Cincinnati members of AFJN directly lobbied their Senator, urging him to co-sponsor this particular bill. Their efforts resulted in his co-sponsorship. At that point, he was only the second Republican in the Senate to sign on. The Cincinnati members got involved in this issue beacuse of their association with a parish in Ghana and their desire to do something positive and long-lasting for the parish.