Press Release: President Bill Clinton and ICAP of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health Host a Featured Panel on World AIDS Day
New York, N.Y. – To mark World AIDS Day 2009, President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation, took part in a featured panel discussion today titled “Awareness, Access, Action: The Global and Domestic State of AIDS” co-hosted by the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Clinton Foundation. Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS-Free World, served as moderator of the panel, which was attended by more than 1,000. The event was part of an all-day symposium sponsored by ICAP on HIV and global health systems.
In addition to President Clinton, other panelists included ICAP Director Wafaa El-Sadr, C. Virginia Fields, president and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and Kali Lindsey, senior director for Federal Policy for the Harlem United Community AIDS Center, Inc. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger welcomed attendees and distinguished panelists, and Linda P. Fried, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, offered closing remarks.
“Despite the great progress we’ve made in our global fight to end HIV/AIDS, in recent years, the Centers for Disease Control has estimated that the crisis in the United States is worse than we previously thought, and the UN reports this year that the number of new HIV infections worldwide is more than double the number of those on treatment,” President Clinton said. “I am pleased to co-host this important panel to discuss what access means today – education and awareness, prevention and testing, and medicines and health care – and what businesses, governments, and civil society can do to help. In 2010, no one, no matter where they live or how much money they have, should lose a loved one to this terrible, but preventable and treatable disease.”
Since 2002, President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have assisted countries in implementing large-scale, integrated care, treatment, and prevention programs. In addition, the Clinton Foundation works to lower prices of essential medicines and diagnostics. Today, 2 million people are receiving lifesaving treatments purchased under Clinton Foundation negotiated agreements.
This featured panel was part of a World AIDS Day symposium, “HIV Scale-Up and Global Health Systems,” sponsored by ICAP. The symposium explored the rapid expansion of HIV/AIDS programs and their impact on the health systems of resource-limited countries. Topics included leveraging HIV programs to support other chronic disease initiatives, the impact of HIV scale-up on women’s health and rights, and the future of HIV funding. Panelists from government, academia, the World Bank, UNICEF, and the Rockefeller Foundation took part in the day-long event.
“While the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has enabled millions around the world to gain access to care and treatment, so many more desperately need these life-saving services,” said Dr. El-Sadr, also Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, at Columbia University. “The response to this epidemic also offers a unique opportunity to transform global health systems to respond to other health threats. The distinguished participants at today’s symposium enabled a meaningful discussion on accomplishments to date, as well as innovative ways to achieve long-term health and well-being of people around the world.”
Other symposium speakers included: Peter Berman (Lead Health Economist at the World Bank), Mickey Chopra (Chief of Health at UNICEF), Pamela Collins (Director of the Office for Global Mental Health at the National Institutes of Mental Health), Mark Dybul (Georgetown University), Sherry Glied (Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health), Gregg Gonsalves (Founder, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition), Lynn Freedman (Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health), Ariel Pablos-Mendez (Managing Director at the Rockefeller Foundation), Jeremy Shiffman (Syracuse University), Nandini Oomman (Director, HIV/AIDS Monitor, Center for Global Development), and others.
The symposium was partially supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
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About ICAP
ICAP is a global leader in supporting the scale-up of multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs based on a family-focused approach. Currently, ICAP supports more than 1,000 sites in 13 resource-limited countries in Africa, which provide HIV services to nearly 800,000 people, including antiretroviral treatment to more than 391,000 individuals. In addition, ICAP-supported sites have provided HIV counseling and testing services to nearly 700,000 pregnant women. For more information, visit the ICAP website at www.columbia-icap.org.
About the Mailman School of Public Health
The only accredited school of public health in New York City and among the first in the nation, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting millions of people locally and globally. The Mailman School is the recipient of some of the largest government and private grants in Columbia University’s history. Its more than 1000 graduate students pursue master’s and doctoral degrees, and the School’s 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as infectious and chronic diseases, health promotion and disease prevention, environmental health, maternal and child health, health over the life course, health policy, and public health preparedness. www.mailman.columbia.edu
About Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree. Among the most selective medical schools in the country, the school is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York State and one of the largest in the country. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.