According to Erin Pannell ’07, co-president of the University’s chapter of Students for Microbicides, talking about microbicides is tough for some people because it involves the discussion of a certain body part.
“One of the toughest things about getting people to talk about this issue is that you have to say vagina,” Pannell said. “Vagina. Vagina. Vagina. There, I’ve broken the ice.”
Pannell and Leah Katz ’07 are in good spirits about their student group S4M (Students for Microbicides), which recently has been picked up by the Global Campaign for Microbicides due to its success with campus advocacy. In addition to beginning work with the Global Campaign next year, Katz will be helping the Global Campaign design a website aimed at assisting college students start S4M chapters on their own campuses.
The club advocates government funding for microbicide research and also works to spread general information about the issues involved. The group considers spreading information to be a particularly important component to its mission, since the vast majority of people have never even heard of microbicides.
Katz started S4M when she was a sophomore.
“I didn’t get much done at first, because, well, I didn’t know what I was doing,” she said.
“The fact that Wesleyan is going to be the model for college advocacy on this issue is all because of the excellent work Leah began with S4M,” Pannell said.
A microbicide is, by definition, anything that is used to kill viruses and bacteria. Its currently most promising application, and the subject of ongoing research, is a microbicide-based product that combats the spread of HIV and other STDs.
While the precise form this product would take is as yet unclear, scientists working in the area believe a gel, cream, or vagina ring are the most likely options. However, regardless of its form, the great appeal of microbicides is that they would enable women to protect themselves during sex without relying on men to use condoms.
Particularly in Africa, home to more than 60 percent of global AIDS sufferers, many see microbicides as essential to an effective prevention program. In some countries, a wife simply asking her husband to use a condom faces social reproval.
“I think there’s no way to not get behind microbicides if you take 10 seconds to think about being a woman in Africa,” Pannell said. “And think about that moment when you know any second now you’re going to be infected because you have no way of forcing your partner to practice safe sex. Girls here can have trouble asking for a condom to be used. I can’t even imagine it in a place where they really have no rights.”
The fact that the primary market for microbicides would be Africa is, in many ways, the largest obstacle to their development. Pharmaceutical companies have made no major efforts toward creating a viable product because of a perception that there is no money to be made in such a venture. Currently, the biggest single contributor to microbicide development is Bill Gates.
“With the spread of information, with international problems being right in peoples’ faces, they’ll feel more of their obligation as humans to fight these tragedies,” Katz said.
The Global Campaign for Microbicides will use Wesleyan’s S4M as a model for other colleges, while also providing it with new funding and guidance.
“We envision campuses where people interested in everything from medicine to economics to anthropology can contribute to microbicide advocacy,” the Global Campaign website states. “Our tactics include presentations, distribution of materials at tables, film screenings, and other creative initiatives to educate students about the need for more HIV prevention options.”
Pannell envisions the microbicide movement as dramatically changing the face of AIDS while simultaneously offering many people the chance to become involved in AIDS issues and policy advocacy.
“It’s hard to get people jazzed up about a colorless, odorless, tasteless vaginal cream,” Pannell said. “It’s really an exciting opportunity to get in on something like this from the ground floor. I can’t imagine what people who were involved with the civil rights movement at the beginning feel like now. This could really even out the playing field on a lot of race and gender issues contributing to the spread of AIDS.”
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