When Hillary Clinton took the stage at the 19th International AIDS conference, protesters tried to drown her out. However, she was the epitome of grace under fire. Acknowledging them with a smile, she said, "What would an AIDS conference be without a little protesting". Then she pointed out that, "part of the reason we have come as far as we have is because so many people all over the world have not been satisfied that we have done enough."
That statement stayed with me throughout the conference as I listened to activists talk about the reasons why seemingly amazing new developments in prevention were not as uncomplicated as they seemed. There has been an ongoing theme of sexuality as a human right implicit and explicit in conversations about such diverse topics as circumcision, treatment as prevention, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
So many fascinating questions have been discussed over the course of this week. Many of them have to do with human rights, including:
- When access to treatment isn't available for every HIV positive person who needs it, is it ethical to talk about PrEP?
- Does referring to treatment as prevention marginalize the HIV positive people who need that treatment as treatment? Does it treat thm as merely vectors of disease?
- Why do many doctors focus more on prevention for the uninfected than treating the infected?
- Is it ethical to deny PrEP to people because it might increase their risk taking behaviors when we don't make similar judgements outside the area of sexual health?
As part of her speech, Secretary Clinton said, "I have seen and experienced how difficult it is to talk about a disease that is transmitted in the way that AIDS is. But if we're going to beat AIDS, we can't afford to avoid sensitive conversations." I couldn't agree more. Right now, it looks as though some of the most sensitive conversations are going to be about the interaction between sexuality and human rights.
Source: http://std.about.com/b/2012/07/27/hillary-clinton.htm
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