Alan Berkman: AIDS Warrior
Russell says Berkman taught us that “we could be powerful Davids taking on Goliath after Goliath”
On June 5 the world lost an AIDS warrior—Alan Berkman, a civil rights activist, an AIDS activist, and a pioneer in health service delivery for poor people from South Africa to the South Bronx. Alan passed away after a long, incredibly brave struggle with cancer.
Alan fought against social injustice wherever he found it. Among the many accomplishments in his extraordinary life, Alan was a visionary leader and mentor in the global struggle for HIV treatment access in developing countries.
Ten years ago Alan founded Health GAP. He was outraged that access to lifesaving HIV treatment in sub -Saharan African countries and the rest of the developing world was off the agenda of virtually the entire global AIDS and public health communities.
He was not afraid to call this crisis what it was—medical apartheid, racism, a crime against humanity. He was never afraid to speak out, even when it made powerful people uncomfortable.
His call to action among activists, people with HIV, and health service providers catalyzed successful campaigns to introduce treatment access in poor countries around the world.
Late-night ass-kicker
During the first New York meetings of what would become Health GAP, often running late into the night, Alan kicked us all in our asses. In a typically unvarnished, forceful and compelling way he laid out a simple—but nonetheless revolutionary—vision of access to medicines for all, rich or poor, North or South.
I remember hearing Alan describe how full of disgust he was after attending the Geneva International AIDS Conference in the summer of 1998—where the hypocritical theme “Bridging the Gap” starkly communicated the inattention of the mainstream AIDS scientific and research communities to the AIDS catastrophe happening in the developing world. Unlike others who would have been paralyzed or embittered, Alan instead developed a transformative vision of how to fight to win the bridging of the actual, tremendous gap—the one that, it seemed, no one was talking about.
Recounting those meetings now, what was most extraordinary is that he had the presence of mind and conviction to believe that we could actually win—we could be powerful Davids taking on Goliath after Goliath, through new relationships of global solidarity in activism.
We’d say, “It’s Africa—the media won’t pay attention! The U.S. government will say treatment for all its too expensive! The World Health Organization will say its not cost effective!” And he would shake his head and say, “It doesn’t matter, we can do it, we must do it, because we are on the side of what is right.”
Those ideas were almost heretical only ten years ago. But because of Alan’s abiding commitment and vision, now millions of people have access to life-saving HIV treatment. And just as important, the very concept that expensive, complex health interventions should only be reserved for those in wealthy countries has been shattered forever.
The progress we have made in scaling up HIV treatment coverage is due to the work of countless people around the world. But without Alan’s serene and relentless vision, I can’t imagine it becoming a reality.
The struggle for access for all is far from over—and right now it’s very hard to imagine fighting on without Alan’s presence. But that’s the least we must do to honor his incredible spirit and unflagging commitment to win victories that matter for the health of millions of people around the world.
Asia Russell is Health GAP’s director of International AIDS Policy.
To honor Alan’s memory, donations can be made to the Alan Berkman Fund at Health GAP.
Posted on June 11, 2009 at 9:53 pm
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