Public Health Magazine: Spring 1996, Vol.4, No.1
AIDS in the Age of Incongruities
White House Connection

One can learn a lot from working for the President of the United States, including the art of compromise. Just ask Michele Kofman, M.P.H. A 1996 CSPH graduate, Kofman spent last summer collaborating on, "Youth and HIV/AIDS: An American Agenda-A Report to the President." Prepared by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, the report examines the impact of HIV and AIDS on America's young people and recommends steps to reduce the rate of infection among this population. It also highlights the need for more comprehensive, innovative and creative prevention efforts aimed at young people. Of her experience in Washington, Kofman observes that, "Being a young person and in graduate school, you think very clearly about what you want to do and how you want to do it. But in a political setting, you need to compromise." As an example, she points to the issue of homophobia, a topic that became a point of contention during production of the report. Kofman says that while the report addresses homophobia, concern over alienating people "who don't want to give money to gay and lesbian programs" kept the topic out of the executive summary. Nevertheless, Kofman notes that President Clinton "is the first President to recognize and address HIV and homophobia as major concerns, so it was a great accomplishment just having a report mentioning these issues coming from the White House." As one of four 25-year-olds from across the country tapped to contribute to the report, which was released in March, Kofman's duties included writing, organizing a strategy-setting conference, and making fact-finding trips to Phoenix, Indianapolis and Virginia to meet with prevention and care experts and with other young people. She also interviewed young men serving sentences at the Maryland Juvenile Bootcamp about AIDS and their attitudes toward the disease. Her involvement in the project led to appearances on local cable news outlet NY1 and on News Talk Television, a national cable network. While it has been "very well received," Kofman hopes that the report will be "the last of its kind ... We should stop talking about AIDS and start doing more about it." -CZ