A million deaths is a statistic; one death is a tragedy

by Janine Schooley, PCI's VP for Technical Services & Program Development

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”
--Albert Einstein

There are many statistics being presented here at the Mexico City IAC 2008. They are presented via power points, through poster presentations, in graphs, in pie charts and in handouts galore. But somehow all these facts and figures keep going in one ear and out the other, not really sticking and not really bringing the HIV/AIDS epidemic to life.

Fortunately there are a few other ways that information is being presented. For example, in the entrance to the grand exhibit hall, there is an old shack made up of roofing materials, cardboard and other miscellaneous junk. Hanging on the outside of the shack are large photos of people living with the co-infection of TB and HIV. A brief story is written in their own handwriting below their photo. If the handwriting is in a language other than English, then there is a translation into English written in magic marker below the photo and story. People can enter the shack and walk through the small living area, the smaller bedroom and out the other end.

For those of you who have been to Tune Town in Disneyland, it is kind of like walking through Mickey or Minnie’s houses, but not really. This house is filled with additional photos and stories, and none of them are cartoon character happy and peppy, although there is hope and dignity in this house. Even in the shabby furniture (the sofa is an old car or truck bench seat, the tables and chairs are mismatched and look like they were taken from a land fill) there is hope and dignity. There is an old wheel chair in the corner and various personal items here and there. It feels real, almost too real to bear. It looks like so many of the homes we have been invited into around the world, only this one echoes with the stories and voices of many families, many people living with these mutually reinforcing diseases, making it even more powerful.

There are many positive people here, like the 16 year old young woman who moderated a session I attended, introducing the scientific/medical presenters from around the world. She has been HIV positive since birth and she thanked all of us for the chance to express her pride in being HIV positive because, in her native country of Australia, she cannot be so open because of stigma and discrimination. She also brings the issues of HIV/AIDS to life in a way that all the power points in the world could never do.

And finally, every once in a while during a presentation filled with statistics, filled with the problems we are all here trying to address, someone will make a statement that makes us all sit up pay attention just a little bit more. Last night that statement was about the new phrase that the presenter has been hearing recently in Haiti to describe the terrible food crisis there. I don’t speak French so I won’t get that right, but basically it was that people have coined the term “Clorox hungry”, meaning the level of hunger that feels like they have been bleached dry, bleached of everything. I had heard about the riots in Port Au Prince and I had seen the statistics about the cost of food and the rising levels of malnutrition in Haiti, but somehow just the fact that this new term is being used made my blood run cold.

Statistics are important of course, but when this conference is over, it will be these and other such memories that will stick with me, will go in both ears and stay in my mind, probably for a very long time.