Day: December 1, 2001

An MIT organization, United Trauma Relief, is sponsoring an effort to deliver AIDS medicine to people in developing countries who can’t afford it.

I do a fair amount of work with people from other parts of MIT, including John Preston, the co-director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. John used to direct the MIT Technology Licensing Center, the folks responsible for clearing the way to have MIT technology used as the basis for forming new companies like Akamai. His successor, Lita Nelson, is an advisor on intellectual property for IAVI, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. As she points out, “The American population is wearing a blindfold on this issue. Because the drugs are keeping people alive, we’re starting to think of AIDS like we think about pneumonia. But there is no cure for AIDS. And the rate [of infection] is climbing again in California.”
more…

Today is World AIDS Day for most of the world, except at MIT where it’s being held December 5 “to allow for the fullest possible participation by the [MIT] community.” Interesting point — is it more important to show unanimity within the MIT community or with the rest of the world? Knowing how big the need for community is at MIT, I think making sure that people can participate is a good idea…

Welcome to my participation in Link and Think, a day of blogging about AIDS on World AIDS Day. If any of these words or links makes you want to do more, check out one of the two sites linked above for information about how you can help.