World AIDS Day is a Memorable Occasion and Time for Reflection
World AIDS Day is a Memorable Occasion and Time for Reflection
The University’ s World AIDS Day, presented on December 1st via Zoom, was a bittersweet moment. Incoming Drew C. A. R. E. S. Director Dr. La Shonda Spencer was warmly welcomed, and glowing goodbye tributes were offered to retiring Oasis Clinic Founder Dr. Wilbert Jordan.
Keynote speaker Dr. David Satcher was characterized as a pioneer and trailblazer by President David Carlisle who introduced him as someone who has waged a career-long fight to eliminate health disparities. Dr. Carlisle noted that Dr. Satcher has received numerous accolades for his many accomplishments dating back to his years of service at CDU.
Dr. Satcher met Dr. Jordan when both attended medical school at Case-Western Reserve University, and they became close friends as well as colleagues. He spoke about how important Dr. Jordan’ s commitment to taking care of families with HIV / AIDS has become over the years.
Dr. Satcher discussed the highs and lows of his own public health practice. He noted that for many years he had a phone by his bed that served as a hotline for sickle cell patients to contact him any time of day or night. His work brought him in close contact with the people who operated emergency rooms where he saw the tremendous problems brought on by hypertension and related violence.
Early in his career, he saw the value of smallpox vaccine and its role in eradicating the disease. In 1980, smallpox eradication was officially recognized as completed by the World Health Organization. Dr. Satcher took a moment to advocate for the US to return to active membership in the WHO, which has now been followed up in the Biden presidential administration. Conversely, polio remains a public health threat even today, as the disease remains prevalent in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where people are unable to get vaccine because of the ongoing border war.
While the WHO was engaged in eliminating smallpox, HIV / AIDS emerged. The world experienced a dramatic rise in incidences of AIDS between 1985 to the early 1990s, then the disease began to drop off. Between 2012-16, there was a decline in the diagnosis rate curve. With people like Dr. Jordan, there is an opportunity to experience a brighter future, he observed.
During Dr. Satcher’ s time as US Surgeon General, first under President Bill Clinton, then George W. Bush, the federal government made a commitment to allocate millions of dollars to treat people with HIV / AIDS in Africa. His work as founder of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute focuses on a variety of levels of leadership including city mayors, health care leaders, and community leaders.
Dr. Satcher’ s aptly-titled book, My Quest for Health Equity, responds to the question of how to overcome the hazards of racism as a factor in health care treatment. Dr. Satcher noted that at Morehouse Medical School where his institute is housed, a key question is,“ What if we had eliminated health disparities in the last century?” He delineated some of the affective factors, such as the crack cocaine epidemic, black males being disproportionately incarcerated, with resultant families broken and disrupted. As Surgeon General, Dr. Satcher issued reports on women and cigarette smoking, women’ s general health, childhood obesity, and oral health. He noted that society is still grappling with the issue of childhood obesity, and that Native Americans have the highest
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