• To cut in half the most extreme manifestations of poverty and hunger
• Dramatically reduce infant mortality rates
• Dramatically reduce maternal mortality rates
• To put all the primary school age children in the world
• To introduce a degree of gender equality
• To drive back the scourge of infectious diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis
• Environmental sustainability
• An accord between the developed and developing world, in which the former delivers on its promises.

“Six years later, while progress is being made in other parts of the world, it is clear that not one of these goals will be met in Africa – largely due to excruciating poverty and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS.”

Some hard realities. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is spreading irrevocably, ineluctably around the world. In China. In India. In Russia. Eastern and central Europe and Asia. There is no part of the world that is immune. And in the epicentre of Africa, it is astonishingly catastrophic.

“If the present level of infections continue, by the year 2012, we will have 100 million on this planet who have died of AIDS or who will die prematurely from it. … The pervasiveness of death is absolutely heartbreaking.”

Lewis spoke of a class of 10 year olds in Zimbabwe in which the teacher asked them to write what was on their minds. Eight out of ten wrote the word, “Death.” And for these children, the only solace they have is prayer. There is no other hope.

“It’s 2006, for god’s sake. How are we prepared to write off millions of people who … with help .. could break the back of the pandemic.”

Women suffer disproportionately from this scourge. Burdened by gender inequality, they are victims of irresponsible behaviour by men. Women have become an endangered species in some parts of the African continent.

And the plight of orphans … “the unsung heroes of the African continent are the grandmothers, who bury their adult children and then return to parenting their orphaned grandchildren. … And when the grandparents die, you have the extraordinary situation of households of children where the oldest assume the responsibility of caring for the youngest.”

And yet, we can beat this scourge. Simply by the governments of western countries honouring their commitments and by corporations acting on their social responsibility.

“Where is the private sector in the midst of the colossal cataclysm?”, Lewis asked. How does the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria get adequately funded? The governments of the world have begun to back away from their commitments. Hardly a penny has come from the private sector. The only quasi private sector contribution of moment is from the Gates Foundation. Why are corporations failing their social responsibility?

There are some glimmers of hope, Some companies have begun to provide testing and counseling for their workers in Africa. They have extended this to include families and communities of their workers. But what none of these companies has done is to go beyond the self-interest of dealing with the pandemic within their own employee groups to make a contribution of consequence to a real solution to the pandemic.

Lewis is traveling and meeting with leaders of corporations to ask them to exercise their corporate social responsibility by making a significant contribution to the Global Fund. “We need at least one major, significant contribution to break the logjam of indifference.”

“If there is one company anywhere that is prepared to take the first step, there is not a newspaper in the world that would not herald this in its editorial pages. … If you could construct a contribution to the Global Fund, this would be the leverage that we need to motivate others.”

Lewis challenged communicators to respond to this need. He asked that we all consider, what we can do. And that we take action.

He suggested that the IABC Research Foundation could play a role – examining why the coverage of this situation in Africa is under-reported. Awareness translates into a compulsion to act and the invisibility of Africa in western media makes it palatable to ignore the catastrophe.

Why is the communication around prevention not working in parts of the world? There are artful efforts to change behaviour … why are we finding it so difficult to change behaviour? To communicate how to protect yourself? To communicate the impact of gender inequality and the need to correct it.

“When one part of the human family is under siege, the privileged part of must respond.”

Stephen Lewis presented a compelling case for action on a human catastrophe. With wit, erudition and passion. We should not fail to heed his message.