The speakers and organizers of the conference repeatedly emphasized their call for action from students.

The conference included an “AIDS Advocacy 101” seminar which aimed to teach students specific advocacy tactics and allowed them to put their lessons into action by acting out a lobbying scene.

“It’s not about empathy, but about ownership,” said Randera-Rees in the opening session of the conference. Citing statistics that over 13 million of the 40 million AIDS victims worldwide are under 25 years of age, the organizers called the pandemic “a crisis of our generation.”

“The most efficient way to get to young people is through other young people,” Altman said, emphasizing the importance of youth activism.

Qwabe said the conference motivated her to take action against AIDS when she goes home to Swaziland this summer. She said the conference made her realize “I can, as a young person, do something.”

Entitled “HIV/AIDS in Africa and the African Diaspora,” the conference addressed the disproportionate effect of the AIDS crisis on the African and African American population.

“We wanted to call to the black youth, saying ‘hey, look what’s happening to your community,’” said Sarika P. Bansal ’06, a co-director of the conference and former president of HAC.

“How would the world react if 8,000 Harvard students were dying, if AIDS was the number one cause of death among white people? The silence of the politicians sends a clear message,” said Jack P. McCambridge ’06 in his introduction of the keynote speaker.

The organizers of the conference, who have now made Unite Against Aids into a permanent organization, hope to continue the energy generated by the conference. The summit will likely happen again in two years, Heilbronner said.

—Staff writer Victoria Kim can be reached at vkim@fas.harvard.edu.