http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/3350017.htm

Paul Davis is sitting at a table outside a coffee shop at 30th Street Station. His laptop is at the ready, his cell phone ringing.

The AIDS activist has agreed to meet for an interview, responding by e-mail:

"How 'bout tables outside of Au Bon Pain on west side corridor? I will A) have long nasty hair, B) black jeans, and C) a mobile phone..."

The soft-spoken person with the non-nasty hair, blue eyes and gentle manner is precisely on time. He wastes no words.

"There are 40 million people with AIDS in the world; 95 percent have no medicine. The medicines decrease death by 60 percent, but these drugs are only available in rich countries... 3 million people die every year... As the epidemic escalates, what can we do?"

It's the central question now, not just for AIDS activists, but also politicians, rock stars, everyday people. Even for Jesse Helms, the Republican conservative old-timer of the U.S. Senate.

As the AIDS issue gathers interest from all sides, Davis and others who have worked for more than a decade are optimistic that Congress may begin to supply the money that is needed to provide treatment and prevention for the poor worldwide.

Helms and Sen. Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) sponsored an amendment last week to provide $500 million for drugs for mothers in Africa who have AIDS. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter cowrote a competing amendment, asking for $700 million to fight global AIDS this year.

Both proposals represent dramatic increases over the funding originally proposed by President Bush.

"This idea has gained a lot of steam in the capital," Specter, a Republican, said in an interview last week. "It's something that is endorsed by all gradations of the political spectrum. It's become that serious a problem."

AIDS is now seen not only as a worldwide threat to health; since Sept. 11, it also has taken on further urgency as a threat to national security.

"I do not think that the social, security and economic implications of HIV/AIDS is fully appreciated by most," Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D., Del.) in February told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs.

"I submit that we must begin taking them very seriously."

For Davis, 32, who has been an AIDS activist for more than a decade, this new urgency is a welcome turn of events. He attributes it not only to the security issues, but also to the visits that members of Congress have taken to Africa.

"These conservatives don't embrace broad social programs," Davis says, "but when they see firsthand catastrophe, dying that is depopulating a continent, they have no choice but respond. They're moved to respond."

Davis sees Specter as one of the important new champions.

"As a powerful Republican, Arlen Specter can force this through if he puts his shoulder behind it."

Davis was doing his part to help.

On Tuesday, Davis, who grew up in Georgia and now lives in West Philadelphia, circulated an e-mail asking for groups to add their signatures to a letter that he was sending to members of the Senate.

The letter sought support for the Durbin-Specter amendment seeking the $700 million as part of the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. The amendment is cosponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.).

"Senators Durbin and Specter will offer an amendment that will have immediate bearing on the lives of 12,000 people a day who die from a treatable disease in poor countries," the e-mailed letter stated.

On Wednesday morning, Davis had 60 organizations worldwide signed up; by afternoon, 70.

At week's end, Davis was still tracking every development.

By Thursday afternoon, it was looking as if the vote on the $700 million would have to wait until after the Memorial Day recess.

"It could conceivably go to the floor. There's talk of keeping them in session. We need 60 percent of the vote to pass," Davis said after Thursday's session.

But the vote was pushed off until after the recess.

Davis' official title is director of domestic government relations for the Health GAP Coalition, affiliated with ACTUP, the international AIDS activist group. The Philadelphia chapter of ACTUP is considered to be the vanguard of the national ACTUP organization.

It successfully led the fight two years ago to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Third World countries.

"Our job in the movement is to work for visionary goals that mainstream advocates will scoff at," Davis said. "We've done that on patents with pharmaceuticals. We're going to keep making radical demands that seem less radical when people realize they are common sense."

Indeed, as Specter said, everyone seems to be on the same page these days.

Working closely with ACTUP is the Global AIDS Alliance, an activist group in Washington.

Paul Zeitz, a doctor and cofounder of the alliance, said debt relief for poor countries is critical to alleviating the AIDS disaster.

"The paradox is that after 9/11, there's been an accelerated interest in the links between poverty, disease and terrorism," Zeitz said.

"If we let Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe have societal collapse from AIDS, there's obviously going to be more enabling environments for rogue regimes," Zeitz said. "We're starting to see political will for more resources."

Zeitz is respectful of the Philadelphia activists in general and Davis in particular.

"On all these issues, he's well-versed. He comes out of ACTUP. I think they're very effective. They're very aggressive. They can get 600 or 700 people to an event."

At the May 20 ACTUP meeting in Center City, it was apparent how the group had become so effective.

The meeting was no social gathering. It was issue-oriented; an agenda with time limits was established. Those with something to say spoke only when recognized by the facilitator.

"We have so many do-or-die things as usual," Davis remarked early on.

Among other tasks, the group elected three representatives to attend the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in early July.

Melvin White, 46, an HIV-positive freelance designer/ illustrator, was one of the three. White said he admired Davis' skill in getting intelligent communications into the hands of politicians.

"He's self-taught," White said. "It's through the years of experience. I just know he does what he does well. He's one of the mentors for me in the group. I see the passion there."

Davis has also worked closely with Marie Clark, the national coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, based in Washington. Jubilee USA's mission is debt forgiveness for poor countries and is an outgrowth of the successful international group Jubilee 2000.

"Paul's effective because he's able to speak the truth as it is," Clark said. "It's not only a matter of telling it like it is and bringing out platitudes, but having the knowledge and experience to back up his vision and his passion."

Davis is diffident about his accomplishments.

"The global AIDS disaster is the most urgent issue of our times," Davis said. "The question is, how could one do any other work?"

Contact Linda K. Harris at 215-854-4417 or lharris@phillynews.com.