Always looking for his next challenge, Mann merged his two passionspublic health and human rightsinto a foundation and new center within Harvard's School of Public Health. Mann used this new stage to recharge the global fight against AIDS, a battle he viewed as backsliding into the usual fragmented mess of feuding bureaucrats and territorial organizations after an unprecedented decade of solidarity. He organized the first international conference on health and human rights, held at Harvard in the fall of 1964. And it was Jonathan Mann who foresaw the need to protect people with AIDS and HIV against employer, insurance and other discrimination. From the very first time I walked into his 16-week class, Mann exuded enthusiasm.
Dignity impacts on health.
When indignities happen, the emotional scars are deep and long lasting. I don't know when I actually last spoke to Mann. I had spoken to him a few times after he became Dean of Allegheny University's new public health school in Philadelphia, a job he took in part to be closer to his wife. We never did. As I read through the pile of tributes read at worldwide memorial services, it was this comment from Swiss President Flavio Cotti that tapped my heart.