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UA students hope to raise upwards from $30,000 during a benefit Saturday to continue and expand their HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs in India.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications
May 8, 2008

University of Arizona students who provide HIV and AIDS education and treatment in India have landed Ambassador Mark R. Dybul, the U.S. Global AIDS coordinator, for their charity dinner Saturday.

The UA student-led International Alliance for the Prevention of AIDS, in collaboration with Support for International Change, or SIC, has invited Dybul to be the distinguished guest speaker during “Hope in the Face of AIDS.” The BIO5 Institute at the UA and The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University sponsored the event, which will be held in Phoenix.

In his position, Dybul is responsible for implementing the Bush Administration’s “Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.” The program is a five-year initiative created to help prevent new cases of HIV in numerous countries by providing education and treatments.

That is also the focus of the UA students who, in 2003, created the alliance known as IAPA after having formed SIC with other university students. IAPA is now a nonprofit organization that works with students at Arizona State University and maintains an office with paid staff in Tamil Nadu, India.

Sanjay Sinha, IAPA’s executive director and co-founder, said Saturday is a chance to learn about what the students are doing. It is also an opportunity to explain the importance of grassroots efforts and how they attempt reduce the number of HIV cases.

“Our efforts are not specific to medical care, but we also educate and get people involved. HIV is not purely health-based, but it expands into every area of India and the world,” said Sinha, a first-year medical student at the UA who was an Honors College student while an undergraduate. He also said that international governments are also taking a heightened interest.

“It’s a lot of ground work and building relationships in the community,” Sinha said.

Last year, IAPA and SIC worked together to raise more than $35,000 during their fundraiser and anticipate raising about the same Saturday, said Eric Hamm, IAPA’s financial director.

The proceeds help the international programs – those in India for IAPA and those in East Africa for SIC, said Hamm, once a UA Honor College student who graduated form the University in 2006.

The two student organizations provide similar programs focused on HIV education, testing, counseling, medical care and also purchase antiretroviral vaccinations that providers then administered to patients.

Student volunteers are expecting at least 150 people to attend Saturday’s event, which includes a roundtable discussion with Dybul, a special reception with the ambassador and a silent auction.

Funds for the IAPA directly support programs that educate grade school children, children of sex workers, domestic violence victims, college students, families and others – both in rural and urban areas – about the virus. The organizations also train health care workers abroad.

Since the virus was first recognized in 1981, about 65 million people in the world have been infected with HIV and AIDS and more than 25 million have died, The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAID, reported.

Its 2006 global report showed that an estimated 5.7 million people in India are living with AIDS, compared with the 1.2 million estimate for the United States.

Part of the problem is education and access to treatment and medical care – two issues the students are working to address.

UNAID indicated that only one in eight people in the world who would like to be tested for the virus are able. Also, the issue of AIDS presents both development and security concerns and most people who are infected by the virus often remain unaware to their condition, UNAID reported.

Currently, an estimated 2.5 million people in India are living with HIV and "the number is still climbing, especially in many of the southern states," said Cambel Berk, a UA Honors College student and the IAPA operations manager.

That is why the advocacy and educational work must persist, said added.

“Because HIV has no cure and because access to resources is very limited in India, the best way to address this issue is to empower people by making sure everyone has the knowledge to protect themselves,” said Berk, who is majoring in molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry and microbiology.

IAPA is even considering ways to expand its programming to other areas of India and to a more varied population.

“India has such a large population,” Berk added, “so this is a crucial time to address the problem to stem the tide before it becomes more serious than it already is.”