The U.S. ambassador to Zambia spoke on campus Friday about the impact of AIDS on the stability, economy and future security of African nations.
H.E. Martin Brennan's lecture focused on what he called a "strategic perspective," detailing the crippling effects the disease is having on the country.
Brennan said AIDS is creating large numbers of orphans in Africa and lack of education in schools about the disease is a primary cause for its fast growth on the continent.
He said Africa is facing a lack of teachers because they are sick with AIDS and many of them are reluctant to talk to their students about AIDS due to the negative stigma associated with the disease.
"How do you move society forward and the economy forward with that type of environment?" Brennan said.
He added that the negative stigma associated with AIDS is so great in Africa that families are unwilling to discuss any issues regarding the disease. The stereotypes associated with the disease are so negative that orphans of parents who die of AIDS are treated as second-class citizens.
The lecture, sponsored by Africa's Friends Reaching the International Community for Africa, was designed to get people at UNM and New Mexico to be aware of issues that Africa is faced with, said vice president Aminata Bailoh-Jalloh.
"It is a great honor to have someone this prominent," Bailoh-Jalloh said. "He ties the United States to Africa and he's talking about an issue of great importance."
Bailoh-Jalloh said she was hoping students would get a first-hand look from someone who has been to Africa and seen the debilitating effects of AIDS on the country.
Brennan said the country's youth are especially vulnerable to AIDS.
Sixteen-year-old boys in Africa, for example, have a 50 percent chance of dying of AIDS before the age of 60 and 14-year-old girls face a 90 percent mortality rate by the age of 45.
Brennan's first suggestion for combating AIDS is the empowerment of women in Africa, which includes the right to property and safe sex.
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"Women are not able to protect themselves," Brennan said.
He said education in schools needs to be intensified so that youth, especially between the ages of 12-18, can be sensitized about the issue. Brennan said it is inevitable that the country's youth will be sexually active, therefore they should be educated about safe sex as well as AIDS, and should know about the use of condoms.
Brennan suggested to students interested in helping fight the spread of AIDS in Africa to write their congressman, make donations, write to students in Africa and support or get involved with organizations like Africare and Doctors without Boundaries that work in Africa.
"The problem is so large, there is a role everyone can play," Brennan said.
Students who want more information about issues concerning Africa can contact A.F.R.I.C.A. at afrika@unm.edu.
