So You Want to Go to Harvard?: World AIDS Day 2010

Today marks the one week anniversary of World AIDS Day 2010, a day where the public is asked to remember the 25 million lives lost and more than 30 million lives infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I chose to share the details of this event after the actual day because I think that there shouldn't just be one day dedicated to a 100% preventable disease that has destroyed millions of lives, especially on the African continent. I've spent the last five plus years investigating possible ways forward, particularly focusing on policy and grassroots involvement in the response, so of course I have a lot to say. But instead of belaboring you with facts and figures, I want to share with you the way that I encouraged my school to get involved.

As Co-President of the HSPH Africa Health Forum Student Organization, I knew that one of our annual programs should be used to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly since discussion has waned over the past few years. Despite the ongoing HIV/AIDS research at HSPH, our organization was the only one to create an event. And unfortunately, last year's event was a debacle; it was poorly attended, not well-planned, and lacked an innovative component to show that the fight against AIDS is still ongoing.

This year, in working with Co-President Kafui and the AHF board members, we decided to reach out to Harvard AIDS Initiative (HAI), a major force in global HIV/AIDS research that didn't have an event planned for the occasion. We worked with Martha, the HAI Communications Manager, to develop an exciting, innovative panel that centered around "New Developments in HIV/AIDS Prevention," and it was great! We catered Senegalese hors d'oeuvres from the local restaurant Teranga and invited more than 100 students, faculty, and staff to engage in fresh dialog surrounding prevention in HIV/AIDS. (See: http://www.aids.harvard.edu/conferences/index.html for the event flier).

The panelists were as follows:

Max Essex, DVM
Dr. Essex, who is Director of HAI and Advisor of AHF, was the moderator for this panel. He provided an overview "report card" of HIV/AIDS prevention methods to give the audience an idea of what has been working and what hasn't been. Top contenders were: prevention of mother-to-child transmission and pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Bottom-feeders included: control of HSV (a form of herpes) and microbicides, in general (with the exception of Tenofovir).

Lori Panther, MD, MPH

Dr. Panther (an alumni of HSPH) presented on microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis. She talked about two hot-off-the-press studies (including iPrEx) that showed some promising results for the short-term use of these two forms of prevention. (See: http://www.globaliprex.net/ and http://www.avac.org/)

Roger Shapiro, MD, MPH

Dr. Shapiro had some very exciting results to share in regards to PMTCT. He talked about the level of risk for a mother transmitting HIV to the baby as increasing from pregnancy (5-10%) to labor/delivery (10-20%) to breastfeeding (5-20% depending on duration). Different medications have proven to almost completely reduce risk of transmission, such as highly-active antiretroviral treatment (HAART). He also discussed two different studies - Mma Bana (focused on maternal HAART) and BAN (infant nivirapine prophylaxis). These studies provide greater hope to reducing transmission from mothers to their children, particularly because breastfeeding has been proven important for infant survival in developing country contexts.

Rebecca Plank, MD

Dr. Plank gave a witty presentation about how male circumcision has greatly reduced transmission of HIV among men. One of the biggest draws towards using this method is that there is 100% adherence, unlike taking a pill each day. Dr. Plank talked about the challenges toward promoting male circumcision, particularly as it relates to cultural practices in different contexts. In Botswana, however, the government has supported a massive circumcision campaign, integrating cultural ceremonies as well. Additionally, Dr. Plank advocated for infant male circumcision due to increased safety and lower cost.
(See: http://malecircumcision.org/)

Stella Safo, MPH Class of 2010

Ms. Safo (also a dear friend of mine) talked about her work in starting a peer-to-peer education program among African-American adolescent girls in a Boston public school. Her program "Let's Talk Love" gives girls the opportunity to discuss sexual education in an open, supportive environment while also being able to share methods of preventing the transmission of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Ms. Safo's talk showed how research can be translated into practice in the fight against AIDS.