39.4, 12.1, 15-24, 1. These may look like random numbers on a screen, but they tell another story: 39.4 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS at year end 2004. 12.1 million AIDS orphans are living in sub-Saharan Africa right now. 15-24 year olds make up half of all new HIV infections among adults worldwide. And the number 1, though the smallest on this list, is the most powerful, since it is all it takes to make a difference. One person can educate a room full of people about the AIDS epidemic and one person can unite with others to make sure that we are all making a difference in the fight.

Organizers of the upcoming "Unite Against AIDS Summit: HIV/AIDS in Africa & the African Diaspora" at Harvard University hope to reach that one youth who can make a difference, and in turn, effectively mobilize to "halt the greatest public health crisis the world has ever known."

Led by a coalition of 18- to 22-year olds from the student organizations Harvard Black Men's Forum, Harvard AIDS Coalition, Harvard African Students' Association, and Harvard Concert Commission, the summit has one core mission in mind: "to mobilize youth, especially black youth, to get involved in the crisis of our generation," says Yusuf Randera-Rees, one of its eight co-directors.

Randera-Rees says that the crisis has hit Africa especially hard. Sixty four percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS are from sub-Saharan Africa. In six sub-Saharan African nations, it is estimated that more than 20 percent of adults are HIV-positive.

"It is our generation's mission to unite against HIV/AIDS," says Randera-Rees. "If we fail to do so, we will be remembered as the generation that watched with apathy as millions of our own died. If we unite, we will be remembered as the generation that halted the greatest public health crisis the world has ever known."

The summit will begin on Friday, April 22, 2005, with a youth gala and fundraiser in Boston. Saturday, April 23, 2005, will feature all-day sessions and panels at Harvard on the HIV/AIDS crisis in various parts of the world, including Africa, the Caribbean, and America. Topics include the responsibility of entertainment media in the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the orphan crisis in Africa; and HIV/AIDS, masculinity, and homophobia in the black world. Zackie Achmat, founder of the Treatment Action Campaign, in South Africa, will give the keynote addresses. Achmat was nominated for a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in distributing life-saving anti-retroviral drugs to millions of South Africans. The summit's co-directors expect Achmat to discuss the crisis in terms of hope.

"Zackie embodies the potential every individual has to positively affect this crisis. From the stigmatized position of being an HIV-positive gay man, he has become a luminary in the fight against the pandemic," says Randera-Rees. "We want people to leave Zackie's talk with a sense that they, too, can impact positive change on a crisis that has caused an insurmountable amount of suffering and devastation."

To that end, the summit seeks to mobilize young people beyond the April 22-23 weekend. The co-directors have already partnered with more than 45 colleges and non-academic organizations to get young people to the conference and help them organize beyond it. A few post-Summit ideas include making transcripts from the conference available to black student groups around the country, and producing a policy paper addressed to various legislatures and government officials to "advocate for the most effective forms of HIV/AIDS education and outreach," say the co-directors.

"More than anything," they say, "we hope that this summit will be a major step towards the HIV/AIDS advocacy community having open and frank discussion about ways to address the relationship between HIV/AIDS, young people, and sex, both here and abroad."

So, on April 22, will you be that one? Will you be that one young person who can make a difference in this fight against HIV/AIDS? Will you be the one to get your friends involved to help this cause and help our generation realize the importance for Americans of all ages to be educated about and active in addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis?

To learn more, go to the official Summit web site. To register for the summit, click here.

Christina M. Coleman, 17, of Atco, NJ, is an editor for SEX, ETC., the national newsletter and Web site written by teens, for teens, on sexual health issues, published by the Network for Family Life Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

 Visit SEX, ETC.