Executive Director of the National Association for People with AIDS (NAPWA) Terje Anderson spoke Tuesday evening in John B. Davis Lecture Hall about changes in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV prevention programs.

According to the CDC’s website, “the CDC is recognized as the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people – at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships.”

Activists from the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) Lorraine Teel and Bob Tracey were also on hand at the lecture.

According to Anderson, the CDC’s new HIV prevention policy emphasizes abstinence as a means of prevention rather than teaching safer sex practices. “[Abstinence] does not work for the mass majority of young people and adults today,” Andersen said. “Programs are telling people that condoms don’t work, of the terrible consequences of homosexuality and pre-marital sex. In a tolerant society, it’s an inappropriate use of government money.”

Anderson said that he believes that the new CDC policies take much of the prevention campaign out of the hands of those who are infected with the disease. “People living with AIDS need to be full and active participants,” he said. “This is a war on HIV prevention that threatens to pull apart all the work we’ve done.”

At the lecture, Minnesota state representative Matt Entenza ’83 received MAP’s annual Hansen Henesin Award. He received the award, named for the MAP’s founders, for his work in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Entenza worked to stop the repeal of the Human Rights Act in the state of Minnesota. “In our nation’s capitol and in our state capitol, there’s a war on,” Entenza said.

While the lecture attracted a large number of community members, very few students were in attendance. “I was surprised by how few students showed up. I was disappointed,” Tom Hammer ’07 said.

“I think we don’t ever get that many Mac students to these events,” said Johanna Nice ’05, Health, HIV and Senior Citizen Community Service Coordinator. “I’m disappointed by how few people were present.”

“Community activism is not what it once was. I’m sorry to say that we’ve grown rather complacent,” Teel said.

Most of the students who were in attendance seemed to like what they heard.

“I agree with what was said [in the lecture]… I’d really like to learn more,” David Kinniburjh ’07 said. “I think [HIV education] is lacking most places.”

“I thought the points [the speakers] brought up were not things I had been taught before in school,” Hammer said. “It’s important to speak openly about sexual practices.”

“I haven’t seen any [HIV education programs] besides this,” Suzie Dyen ’07 said. “You can never be too educated. It’s important to be continually educating yourself, especially about policy.”

“People need to be more aware of what’s being slipped in to these kinds of policies,” Nice said.

MAP and NAPWA have both been active for 20 years. MAP was formed in 1983 by two Minnesotan men, both of whom had AIDS. “By now, they believed there would be a cure,” Teel said of the two founders, who have since passed away.

According to Anderson, 900,000 Americans are HIV-positive, and at least one-third of those infected do not know they have the disease. Seventy-five percent of those infected are minorities and 50 percent are gay or bisexual men. “We are seeing the most marginalized parts of our population be affected,” Anderson said. He added that the number of Americans who are HIV-positive is currently at its highest. “People are still dying at an unacceptable rate,” he said.