Miriam Zoll to Speak at Oberlin College
- Public Policy Expert on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights -

February 20, 2007 -- Miriam Zoll has more than 20 years experience in the public policy and international development sector, with expertise in HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, gender equity and human rights.

Zoll will deliver a lecture at Oberlin College on the many complexities of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic on March 7 at 8:00 p.m. in Wilder 101. Her talk is free and open to the public.

In her talk, Zoll will speak on how gender equity and enforcement of women’s rights is essential to stemming the tide of infections and to improving care and support of children and adults affected by the pandemic. She will give recommendations for a new 21st century donor model that invests more heavily in community-based care.

HIV/AIDS is a significant global concern, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV worldwide. The World Health Organization writes that while in some regions infection rates have decreased, the pandemic is far from over.

In 2005 Zoll was awarded a Research Fellowship at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). An independent researcher and author, Zoll also works with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to integrate more scientific solutions to such challenging public policy issues as poverty, global warming and natural disaster mitigation.

Working with the United Nations from 1999-2005, she served as chief global researcher for a joint UN agency (UNFPA, UNIFEM, UNAIDS) publication “Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis,” which was launched at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2004. From 2004-2005 she was the lead author and analyst for the Rapid Country Assessment, Analysis and Action Planning Process for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Sub- Saharan Africa. This unprecedented USAID-UN initiative was the first consolidated effort in the history of the HIV/AIDS pandemic to track orphan policies and programs at the global, state, donor and local level in 17 sub-Saharan African nations.

An award-winning journalist, Zoll’s articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and The American News Service. Zoll is also the founding co-producer of the Ms. Foundation for Women’s Take Our Daughters To Work program, an annual event since 1992 focusing public attention on girls’ development and gender inequity in the workplace.

Miriam Zoll’s visit is sponsored by the Center for Leadership in Health Promotion with support from a grant from the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation.

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Media Contact:

Scott Wargo
Director of Media Relations
Oberlin College
440-775-5197

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