-Without you we will never succeed

-”The difficult is what takes a little time – the impossible just take a little longer”, you are the generation that can put a stop on the AIDS pandemic, said Dr. James McIntyre quoting the Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen on Thursday’s plenary session concerning HIV and AIDS.

Three very prominent speakers were present in Storsalen Thursday night, when the agenda was concerning one of the hardest challenges the modern world has seen. Every year two million people die from AIDS related causes. Three out of four of these deaths happen in sub-Saharan-Africa. Tonight’s panel consisting of Dr. Phillippe Douste-Blazy, Dr. James McIntyre and HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit emphasized the fact that HIV and AIDS is everybody’s problem, not just “their”.

Creative funding

Foto: Fotogjengen.samfundet.no

–In a world facing an economic crisis where several donors have announced decreased contributions, we need to find new and creative ways of funding, said Dr. Douste-Blazy who was first man out on stage this evening. He has served as both the minister of health, culture and foreign affairs in France, now he’s a special adviser on innovative financing for development in the UN and chairman of UNITAID. For ISFiT he presented UNITAID’s work in implementing solidarity taxes on airline tickets worldwide.

Taxes of solidarity

–The solidarity contribution is a very simple idea of ours. By putting taxes of solidarity on activities benefiting the most of globalization, like tourism, we can get really far, he said. He’s now working on implementing a one and four Euro tax on domestic and international airline tickets. –It’s completely painless for the traveller, and it will contribute to large sums of money that will fight three epidemics: HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
-10 million people living with HIV are waiting for access to treatment. Go back to your home countries and tell your leaders to implement solidarity tax on plane tickets, he encouraged the audience.

HIV-reseach

Foto: Fotogjengen.samfundet.no

Working with HIV- and AIDS-research for decades, the South African Dr. James McIntyre added his professional weight and personal experiences to the meeting. –Young women in sub-Saharan-Africa are at highest risk of getting infected. By dealing with men we can protect the girl. Male circumcision can reduce the risk of getting infected with up to 60%, he said. Dr. McIntyree also underlined the importance of preventing mother-to-child-transmission of HIV and how that probably has been the biggest success story in the fight against HIV.

No solution without including youths

Foto: Fotogjengen.samfundet.no

Last but not least Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit entered the stage receiving great applause from the students. Her Royal Highness has been devoted in the fight against HIV for over ten years, especially among young people. –It is a huge problem that HIV and AIDS often are discussed without including young people. We need to recognize youths, your ideas, perspectives, knowledge and your ability to use social media in communicating. Without youths we wont be able to solve this problem. Involve yourself!, Her Royal Highness said in a short appeal to a clearly agreeing young audience.

In the second round of the plenary session the students in Storsalen were as usual invited to ask questions to the panel. Good questions from reflected young minds impressed the prominent speakers, who also managed to impress the future leaders of the world. All in all an interesting plenary session of high quality.