1988_110

"Jonathan Mann, a US medical doctor, was a key figure in the early global fight against HIV/AIDS. He developed the Global program on AIDS at the WHO in Geneva. His staff increased from 4 persons in 1986 to 250 in 1990. He attracted a wide media coverage and political support and also support from the AIDS activists as a result of his effort to mobilize the global community against HIV/AIDS.  He resigned his post at the WHO to protest the lack of response from the United Nations with regard to AIDS, and the actions of the then WHO director-general Hiroshi Nakajima. Mann's work against AIDS, his conflict with Nakajima and its impact on WHO's AIDS efforts have been documented as a part of PBS Frontline documentary "The age of AIDS". During Mann's tenure, the AIDS program became the largest single program in the history of the WHO. He was a key figure in highlighting the need for a global response to the crisis. Jonathan Mann is the most outstanding person I have met during all my 27 years of filming HIV/AIDS. He succeeded to bring activists scientists, public health people, celebrities, international development people, the big pharmaceutical corporations and media together in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. He was also the first person to connect the fight against HIV/AIDS with the promotion of human rights and global health.This interveiw is one of the few, which is saved unedited with dr Mann, made in the 80´s so it is quite unique. Jonathan became a close personal friend and it was a tragedy that he died in the Swissair crash 1998, actually on his way back to start work for UNAIDS and WHO again. During the last years of his life, he was head the Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Human Rights at Harvard School of Public Health." - Staffan Hildebrand