This issue of the Journal is our
association's tribute to Jonathan Mann and Mary Lou Clements-Mann. Some of the
words are from those who loved and respected them. Some of the words are
Jonathan's. Our words are simply ink on paper that are symbols for our thoughts
and feelings. But Jonathan's words are always vocable--they demand to be spoken,
they demand to be heard. Jonathan's words are his anima. Jonathan's words are
the truth. And only in our complete commitment to this truth will we ever
understand the essence of freedom.
We have opened our tribute with Jonathan Mann's presentation at IAPAC's First
International Conference on Healthcare Resource Allocation for HIV/AIDS and
Other Life-Threatening Illnesses. We have closed the tribute with passages from
his article, "Paralysis in AIDS Vaccine Development Violates Ethical Principles
and Human Rights," from the May 1998 issue of the Journal.
Dr. Mann's position statement on the ethical obligation to proceed with field
trials of promising vaccine candidates without the need of consensus from the
scientific community drew more criticism from government, academia, and the AIDS
community than any other position that he advanced. Such criticism serves to
remind us that solutions to the diverse and often competing global health
challenges require a rare clarity of vision based on the dignity and value of
human life. These challenges will be increasingly difficult to address without
Jonathan's vision and without his words which brought such clarity to that
vision.
To help keep Jonathan's vision and words paramount in a world so diminished
without him, our association has also dedicated the new human rights section of
the Web site to his vision of a world in which healthcare is inextricably linked
to human rights, and in which all human rights are respected and enforced.
Gordon Nary
Source: Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care,
October, 1998
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