“That progress that is possible and that disaster that is looming will be part of how our generation is judged,” he added. “The failure to address global disease in as effective a way as we can would be a moral failure.”

Summers said he believed that Harvard experts, and the scientific community more broadly, could significantly alleviate the problem, calling it “one of the most tractable” global issues.

“This is not true of any of the world’s other great problems,” he added.

And Summers pledged that the University will make any findings widely available.

“Our approach should be to support whatever handling of intellectual property will ensure maximal dissemination,” he said. “I’ve got no desire to see the University make money off of drugs that cure diseases that are killing people in the poorest parts of the world.”

After Summers spoke and fielded questions, Essex outlined the efforts of his AIDS Initiatives, with centers in Senegal, Botswana and South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania. Bloom also spoke briefly about the SPH’s efforts in Africa.

The conference was sponsored by the SPH’s Africa Health Forum—a student group that focuses on African health issues—and the AIDS Institute.

Pride M. Chigwedere, a third-year SPH student and president of the forum, opened the panel by noting that while he hopes the University can do more, it is on the forefront of global health efforts.

“Harvard is already doing a lot—much more than any academic institution that I know of,” he said.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.