In 2004, an estimated 25.4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV. In contrast, only one million people in the whole of North America were afflicted with the virus. The poverty of sub-Saharan African countries makes their inhabitants particularly susceptible to the disease, Mutungi argued.
"It's like running on a treadmill" Mutungi said. "Half of these countries' [gross domestic product] goes toward paying off debt to Western countries, so when other countries are moving forward, Africa is moving backward."
Mutungi also stressed the seriousness of the epidemic, noting that 5000 people are infected with the virus every day. He said that Kenyans need to respond as if their country were under attack.
"I would defend my country with my last ounce of blood," Mutungi said. "Us Kenyans must respond and respond with everything we've got."
I Choose Life works to increase HIV awareness among college students, an age range for which the rate of infection is particularly high. Fifty percent of those infected in Kenya are between the ages of 15 and 24. This is particularly damaging to a country's infrastructure, as people in this age range are generally creative and industrious, Mutungi said.
Mutungi said that the group has enjoyed some success with the peer-education programs. In 2004, only 28 percent of the students at the universities he worked with got tested for sexually transmitted infections. By 2006, 53 percent of students had been tested.
"Students are mature and are able to make choices," Mutungi said. "Our responsibility is to make sure that they have the information to make choices."
Another of the aims of I Choose Life is to remove the stigma that surrounds HIV so that it becomes a more widely discussed topic.
"I remember when my sister got infected, no one talked about it," Mutungi said. "At funerals they never say you die from HIV. We need to demystify the disease." Three of his siblings died of AIDS.
I Choose Life started in 2000. Mutungi conducted a survey of students at Universities in Nairobi asking them to define the most serious issues they faced. HIV topped the list, leading Mutungi to create an organization specifically to target the problem of HIV among university students.
Mutungi began his lecture by showing the audience a video documenting the life of Maggie, a nine-year-old African orphan. The documentary explained that Maggie lived with her great-grandmother, the only surviving member of her family. The pair struggled to survive by working long days in their neighbors' gardens and spending nights in a makeshift hut.
Maggie, however, was relatively lucky, Mutungi argued.
"When my brothers and sister passed away, as a family we had to take over their children," he said. "These are the lucky ones. Some households end up being led by children, and there are some children who have nobody to turn to."
The video speculated that the number of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa will rise from 12 million to 20 million in the next six years.
