Salve Students Seek Signatures for AIDS in Africa

By: Elizabeth Bartek
Posted In: News

Six Salve students are doing their part to incorporate the Salve Mission Statement into their academics, and on Wednesday, December 1, so can you. As part of an ongoing class project for their Social Policy class, six Social Work majors are determined to help with AIDS in Africa.

Seniors Kerri Malone, Teresa Souza, Christopher Liddy, Jamie Halloran, Stephanie Solvato and Brydie Bernardo have composed a letter to five national pharmaceutical companies currently producing medications for AIDS patients. These companies include Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Hoffman LaRoche, Merk and Company, Ortho Biotech Products, and Serono Incorporated.

In the letter, the Salve students asked the companies to “not only release these medications to Africa, but to offer a discounted rate on these medications.”

The letter concludes with a quote from Nelson Mandela: “AIDS is killing more people than were killed by all the wars and natural disaster that have occurred during the last two centuries.”

At this point, and in conjunction with National AIDS Day on December 1, the group is still collecting signatures.

“We have about half of the 2,000 signatures we need,” says Kerri Malone. Signatures have been collected from Salve students, faculty, staff, family, roommates and Newport community members.

From 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the group will have information on display at the Newport Public Library. Information will include AIDS in Africa and AIDS in Rhode Island. Malone hopes to collect more signatures from local community members.

“I think it’s realistic,” Malone says of the 2,000 signatures. “It’s good to inform the community of the problem. It will take more time than a semester, though.”

The project does not have a deadline at this time and, in fact, the six students hope their work will continue on. Once they have all the signatures, they will send the petitions on to the pharmaceutical companies and wait for a response from each.