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Protesters Angry With Thompson at World AIDS Conference

Aired July 09, 2002 - 13:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Angry protesters today shouted down Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson at the World AIDS Conference in Spain. They say the U.S. isn't doing enough to fight the disease.

For a closer look at that controversy, we're going to bring in our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He is in Barcelona. Were you there when he got booed off, Sanjay?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I was close by, Kyra. No question, it's a beautiful day here in Barcelona, but not for Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson. He barely made it to the podium before the boos started.

He was giving a United States Commitment to Global AIDS speech, and before he could even do that, protesters started handing out these whistles. They started holding up placards. The placards are pretty remarkable. They actually said, "Bush and Thompson wanted for murder for the neglect of people with AIDS." These are the placards that people were holding up. You see there, Secretary Thompson actually stood by and waited for about 15 minutes, listening to the protests, hearing the chants, which were, "no more lies, no more lies."

The numbers that we are talking about here, a need of $10 billion to try and fight AIDS in some low-income countries. That money is needed annually. Right now, they send in about $3 billion, and that's what a lot of the protest was about.

We did get a chance to catch up with the secretary right after the protest, right after he delivered his nearly inaudible 10-minute speech. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: I understand that people want to yell and scream. They would serve their cause much better if they would try and get other countries to contribute to the global fund, like the United States has; if they would help other countries see the light to give as much as the United States is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: To be clear, the United States has pledged $500 million up until the end of 2003. Now, that represents .07 percent of the Gross Domestic Product for this country. The numbers are not that important. But let me just give you a little perspective. Norway has pledged 25 times as much per citizen than the United States; Rwanda, 10 times as much as a percentage of GDP than the United States. And that certainly has a lot of these activists, a lot of these protesters up in arms. And that's what a lot of the protest was about today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we'll be checking in with you again probably tomorrow from Barcelona.

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