October 23, 2014 - TheBody.com.
By Anne-christine d'Adesky
"We need an ACT UP for Ebola. Act Up, Fight Back, Fight Ebola!"
That message, shared via the Internet with increasing hourly frequency in recent days among seasoned AIDS activists, has captured a growing sense of urgency for movement-level activism to address what some call AIDS on steroids -- the fast-moving, deadly Ebola epidemic.
"Epidemics need to be ignored to flourish. We learned that from AIDS," says Gregg Gonsalves, a leading voice in the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) for HIV. "This was a 'manufactured' crisis. I mean that in the sense that the epidemic began in March and it was clear within a few weeks that it was spreading dangerously. The world decided not to act and even now the response is not commensurate with the need. We need to stand with West Africa and we should fight for them. We know how to push governments to do the right thing. Act Up for Ebola!" Continue reading…