UNIVERSITY COALITIONS for GLOBAL HEALTH

It’s an election year and that means our voices really matter-especially if you’re from New Hampshire, Iowa or South Carolina. Some of you will probably think I’m crazy and until a few months ago I would have entirely agreed with you, but I have seen the power that students have in influencing policy.

In the U.S. we are already utilizing the power of our voices to change the world for Presidential candidates. We’ve already changed the world for Senator John Edwards and Governor Richardson and are on our way with Senators Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Using a grassroots tactic called, bird-dogging, we have been able to influence the candidates’ domestic and global HIV/AIDS platforms.

Bird-dogging is the act of attending public appearances and asking questions about global health issues. Back in the 1980s, AIDS activists employed this technique to put the HIV/AIDS crisis on the map. We’re using the same strategy and demanding that our politicians deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This direct interaction between students and politicians can have a big impact! Simply by asking well articulated questions and attending public forums-like town hall meetings-we are able to influence and more importantly, educate politicians about global health issues.

In the U.S. there is a network of students from across the country hitting the campaign trail and demanding real answers to our global health questions. They have organized around the 08 STOP AIDS platform that includes language on everything from building health systems to ensuring fair trade laws for access to medications. We’ve already seen many successes, including Senator John Edwards’ public endorsement and incorporation of our recommendations into his HIV/AIDS platform

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the democratic debates at Dartmouth where I met some of the world’s best bird –doggers! They went to different candidates’ events and asked global health questions. After an hour of standing the rain and waiting for Senator Clinton to show, a student was able to get in a question;

“Senator Clinton, I’m happy to know that you intend to be the healthcare President, as a medical student health policy is essential to my work. I recently returned from studying in South Africa where I witnessed the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in that country. I am worried that with PEPFAR flat funded at $30billion dollars the U.S. will not be a leader in combating the pandemic. As President would you be willing to spend at least $50billion dollars over the next five years to combat global HIV/AIDS?”

Senator Clinton responded by saying “Absolutely, more needs to be done for AIDS in developing countries.”

While this wasn’t a public statement, it is definitely a step in the right direction. In one night students were able to talk with Clinton, Biden, Obama, Dodd, Gravel and Kucinich!
I hope that you all will realize the importance of your opinions and become active in the election year!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Events, HIV/AIDS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.