More than 3,000 students lobbied for increased HIV/AIDS awareness Saturday, waving signs and chanting slogans as they marched from the White House to Capitol Hill.
"We're here to demand that the government take action," said Student Global AIDS Campaign coordinator Healy Thompson in the first speech of the event at Lafayette Park, just north of the White House.
"With 8,000 people dying every day and 15,000 becoming infected with HIV, the only hope we have for defeating the pandemic is to join together globally," Thompson said in a press release. "Youth are at the center of the disease, and we will be at the forefront of combating it."
Student activists from 120 schools as far away as Washington State University used the march to present their agenda to media and government figures to get more government funding, debt forgiveness for nations stricken with AIDS, comprehensive sex education and generic drugs.
"I'm tired of waiting for what is essentially a rounding error in the federal budget," said event speaker and George Washington University student Kaylee Riek at the post-march rally. "People are dying! What is Congress waiting for?"
Speakers at the event included poets, local college students, leaders of nonprofit groups and HIV-positive activists. All stressed the importance of AIDS legislation for people around the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. Several also mentioned the high rate of HIV/AIDS among black communities in D.C., which has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the nation, The Washington Post reported.
"Primarily minority, low-income communities are suffering from a lack of availability of reproductive resources and comprehensive sex-ed. Black women are 20 times more likely to be HIV positive than white women," said Howard University student and Planned Parenthood representative Jenna Burton. "We're not seeing enough activism."
The march was another event in what has been an eventful month for the AIDS cause. Just two weeks ago, New York City's health commissoner, Thomas R. Frieden, announced the existence of an AIDS strain resistant to three of the four classes of drugs used to treat AIDS. Doctors usually need to combine all four classes of drugs for them to have any effect.
This strain of HIV also progresses much more quickly than the original strain, The New York Times reported. The anonymous New York City patient's disease progressed from initial diagnosis to fully developed AIDS in three months instead of the expected 10 years, the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported Feb. 11.
"It's terrifying news," said DePaul University freshman Jen Evrard, who traveled 15 hours overnight on a bus from Chicago to attend the march. "It proves that AIDS isn't going away. It's only getting worse. And it's our responsibility to raise awareness of the unfortunate prevalence of this disease."
Fellow DePaul student Amy Oraftin agreed. "AIDS is a global issue. It cannot be ignored," she said.
However, AU student Amanda Hesse questioned the protest's effectiveness.
"I don't know if [the students] are going to get the results they want. It's a futile effort," Hesse said. "The reality is, you can only give so much money. Where is that money going to come from? It will come from the taxpayers eventually, and they won't vote for it."
Currently, the U.S. government funds $18.5 billion, or .15 percent, of its nearly $12 trillion gross domestic product to HIV/AIDS research and treatment worldwide, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"If we can afford a $1.6 billion in tax cuts, then we can fully fund the fight against AIDS," rally speaker Wylie Chen argued. Protesters responded with cheers and a chant criticizing President George W. Bush's policies.
The Capitol Hill rally ended with chants in Indian and African dialects before some protestors moved to the Indian Embassy to continue their activities. India and nations in Africa have been especially hit hard by AIDS. Yesterday, students attended workshops in preparation for today's lobbying sessions with senators and representatives.
"This isn't only a fight for you. It's also a fight for me, and I take it personally," said Tom Donahue, the HIV-positive founder of Who's Positive, a Web site that directs people to HIV testing sites, in closing remarks. "I hope you take this fight as far as you can to as many people as you can. [Our] voices must and will be heard today"
