RIT Gannett Lecture Examines the Global Impact of AIDS, Oct. 30

Panel discussion will include activists

The impact of AIDS on the world will be explored as part of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Caroline Werner Gannett Lecture Series on Thursday, Oct. 30.

Murli Sinha, chair of the sociology and anthropology department at RIT, will present, “AIDS Epidemic: A Global Perspective,” at 7:30 p.m. in Webb Auditorium, James E. Booth Building, on the RIT campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Sinha is the author of the forthcoming book, Women, Poverty and HIV Infection among Indian Prostitutes.

“HIV/AIDs is a global phenomena,” Sinha says. “Approximately 40 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDs. Twenty million have already died since 1981. Poverty is a major cause in many developing countries where women become sex workers because they have nothing else.”

A panel discussion will follow Sinha’s talk. Discussants will include Jean Douthwright, professor of biology at RIT, Annie Piazza, director of client services at AIDS Rochester Inc., and Colleen Freeman, a member of Mothers Acting Up.

The Gannett lecture series is sponsored by RIT’s College of Liberal Arts.