Sachs Speaks on AIDS

Stone Professor of International Trade Jeffery D. Sachs labeled the African AIDS epidemic a symptom of a larger socioeconomic crisis afflicting the African continent in a speech at the Kennedy School of Government last night.

Kicking off the "AIDS in Africa" series co-sponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and The Center for International Development (CID), Sachs spoke to a packed Starr Auditorium on AIDS and other diseases affecting third world countries.

He warned that poverty begets poor health conditions, which in turn render economic growth much more difficult in underdeveloped countries.

Sachs, the Director of CID, stressed that without the finances to support proper health institutions, citizens in poor countries will continue to die of easily treatable diseases.

"Measles is a faint memory of a mild childhood disease in the United States," Sachs said. "It takes about a million lives a year in the poor countries."

Sachs' take-home message that Africa could not combat the AIDS epidemic without increased financial aid from "the rich countries" was received favorably by the audience.

"We feel very excited to have advocates like Jeffery Sachs," said Joia S. Mukerjee of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "More spending for our patients will be a godsend."

Conceding that pharmaceutical companies market AIDS drugs at a cost "vastly above the cost of production," Sachs warned that many are led to believe that simply reducing prices will solve the problem.

But even if lowered to the bare cost of their production, the price of AIDS drugs would remain too expensive for impoverished countries to afford.

One major obstacle, Sachs said, stems from the U.S. government's attitude toward Africa that began in the Reagan era and continued through the Bush and Clinton administrations: "When it comes to money, 'You're on your own. And by the way, pay us back.'"

Sach's effort to extend the issue of the AIDS crisis in Africa to incorporate poverty and disease across the globe fits into the larger goals of the "AIDS in Africa" series.

The aim of the program, said event coordinator Camilla M. Catenza, is not merely to rely upon AIDS experts. Rather, it is to approach the AIDS problem from a variety of angles.

"We can all look at this puzzle, but sometimes it takes someone new," Catenza said.

Sach's tool for the evening was his understanding of the economic implications of the health crisis. "We're not going to solve the problem until someone is ready to help pay the bill," he said.

Future speakers include CBS executive David Gelber and journalist Charlene Hunter-Gault.