From its name, it may not be obvious what Project 40/40 is all about. But the students behind one of University of Wisconsin’s newest organizations hope to get others curious about the group’s cause — and make it their own.
“Maybe they’ll ask, ‘What is 40/40?’ It’s kind of a vague name, we meant it to be that way,” said co-founder Anna Day, a UW sophomore.
Project 40/40 stands for a partnership between UW’s student body of 40,000 and 40,000 HIV-positive people in Uganda. The group, which works hand-in-hand with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, raises funds through its events that go purchase a year’s worth of antiretroviral treatment, maintenance tests and a diagnostic test for each patient.
By matching person-for-person with the student body to a target group in need, members of Project 40/40 hope every student will feel the need to contribute.
“It’s kind of an interesting idea, to think, ‘Hey if I don’t do this, my person … is not going to get funding for antiretrovirals,'” said co-founder Sara Jerving, a UW sophomore.
Project 40/40 aims to raise $180 per year per person or about $15 a month each.
“If every single student on campus gave us $15 a month, we would basically end lack of treatment in Uganda,” said Alana Keusch, an intern with the group in charge of student organization outreach and special events. “And that’s just our campus. Imagine if something like this happened on every campus in the country.”
Thus far, the group has raised enough money to provide a year’s worth of treatment and tests for 11 people. Yet while the group is optimistic and deeply passionate about their cause, they face daunting tasks ahead.
“We have to do this each year. That totals $7.2 million a year. We try not to talk about it as much because that goal sounds so high,” Day said. “That big number that’s out there is something that we hope to (raise) in the future.”
Co-founders Day and Jerving were initially inspired to start the group after attending a lecture on campus last year by Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
“We basically afterwards started talking about how we were going to take action,” Day said.
As summer hit, Day and Jerving decided they would start a student organization. It wasn’t long before they partnered with CHAI, a branch of the William J. Clinton Foundation, which helped the group locate a region of Uganda with 40,000 HIV-positive patients going untreated.
Throughout the fall semester the organization laid low, working intensely to recruit interns and develop their goals and strategies. On March 10, the core group of 20 executives and interns held a kickoff to officially open the group to campus.
Less than a month later, Project 40/40 appears to be on a roll. With about 20 additional general members, they’ve just completed their first few special events, including a date auction held at Madison Avenue, a progressive student organization networking night on State Street and a live web lecture by renowned economist and author Jeffrey Sachs.
“Project 40/40 is doing a lot of good stuff,” said UW sophomore Kate Large, who attended the Sachs lecture. “You can see all the flyers everywhere. They’re putting on a lot of events, and they’re trying to reach out to campus, to get involved with other orgs. I’m impressed.”
Upcoming programming includes a gay issues panel today at Sellery Hall, a lecture by Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky on April 21 at Grainger Hall and a community service networking night on May 1 at Sucre on Mifflin Street.
Caitlin Becker, lead coordinator with the Madison chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, said she understands the approach that Project 40/40 takes.
“The multifaceted approach is almost fairly common in HIV organizations unless they’re committed to a specific sector,” Becker said.
While some remain skeptical, Keusch said she observed a different sentiment while working with HIV/AIDS patients at a clinic in Uganda two years ago. She said she was inspired that, despite receiving rejected medicine from the U.S. and often waiting for days at time to see a doctor, Ugandans still have an abundance of optimism.
“You need to think about what it’s like over there, and how precious human life is,” Keusch said. “This isn’t a hopeless cause at all; it’s hopeful — and that’s the greatest thing about it.”
