The University History Department invited a doctoral student from Ohio State University to lecture about HIV and AIDS Wednesday.

Dawn Miles spoke to students about communities that have been over-affected by HIV and how different areas are not given the same treatments.

Miles said her passion for the topic of the speech she gave, “HIV/AIDS: The History of the Pandemic in Africa Diaspora,” comes from her background as a nurse and the experiences she has had.

She wanted to figure out why African communities were being over-affected by HIV, so she merged history and medicine together as a possible way to treat HIV, she said.

“HIV is not a black, African or gay thing,” Miles said. “It is a world pandemic that has to be dealt with from all sides of the issue. Focusing on certain populations is doing a disservice to the treatments and options available with HIV.”

Nicole Jackson, assistant professor in the history department, invited Miles to speak at the University.

“I like the way she mixes her academic work with the way she speaks to people from where they are,” Jackson said. “She is used to talking to students about HIV/AIDS and in general like sexual safety, and so it’s really nice that she mixes in research as a scholar and how it is applicable to students in their life.”

One of the biggest reasons HIV is such a prevalent issue is some governments cannot afford medicine, Miles said in her speech.

“HIV medicine in the U.S. costs $2,000 a month with OK insurance,” she said.

Also, the availability of contraceptives can be a factor. Many prisons and schools do not issue condoms because they may promote sex, Miles said.

“I work and live in an urban area, but where HIV is spreading in astronomical numbers,” Miles said. “But I’m not allowed to tell someone to use a condom … because that’s not what religion said we’re supposed to do.”

Junior Donovan Gregory went to the lecture because one of his instructors gave extra credit for going.

“One of the most shocking things I learned was how medical testing helped spread HIV around the world,” Gregory said.

Many doctors used slaves and Africans as a way to find cures to treat white patients, Miles explained in her lecture.

She also said these doctors may have taken animal organs and placed them into the subject’s body.

Even today prisons do a lot of testing and experimenting with prisoners because often times they are not able to say no, Miles said.

“If the prisoners were to say no, they could have to spend a week in solitary confinement,” Miles said.

Miles said that HIV is still a big problem today.

“34 million people have HIV/AIDS, and 3.3 million of them are under 15 years old,” she said.

She said some countries like Uganda and Cuba have come up with programs that have decreased the number of HIV hosts in their populations.

“I had no idea that Africa is actually ahead of us on how to treat [AIDS],” said senior Stephen Meyer.