HIV/AIDS

"AIDS is not over until it is over for everyone."

This was said by one of the plenary speakers Dr. Peter Okaalet, a physician in Uganda who is one of the world leaders on helping prevent and eradicate HIV/AIDS worldwide. He gave some staggering statistics. In Uganda 27% of the population is infected with HIV and there are countries with an even larger percentage. Life expectancy in Botswana was 74.4 years before AIDS and is expected to be 26.7 years in 2010. Similarly in Mozambique it is dropping from 42.5 years to 27.1 year, and in Malawi from 69.4 years to 36.9 years.

He discussed the mindset of many by saying, "AIDS will kill me in ten years, but hunger and starvation will kill me tomorrow so why should I care?"

You can read more about him and his efforts in this Time Magazine article