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World AIDS Conference Concludes Today in Dramatic Fashion
Aired July 12, 2002 - 11:27 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The World AIDS conference concludes today in dramatic fashion, with appearances by Nelson Mandela and former President Bill Clinton.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been covering the conference all week, and he is with us now from Barcelona, Spain.
Good morning, or good afternoon from where you are in Barcelona.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good afternoon from beautiful Barcelona, no question. Well, the conference is almost over, Daryn, and it has been a conference that many say has been short on breakthroughs and long on controversy.
A couple of big numbers to remember: $10 billion a year. That is the number we heard over and over again. That's how much it cost to take care of all the HIV-infected patients in the world. The global fund sort of overseas that. They're nowhere near to that. Three billion dollars that they have in their coffers right now, and that has been the subject of a great deal of controversy here in Barcelona.
United States Health Secretary Tommy Thompson actually was in Barcelona as well, went to podium a few days ago to actually give a speech about the United States commitment to global aids. Before he even got there, he was met with protesters carrying whistles, carrying placards. Some of the placards pretty remarkable, Daryn. They actually said things like "wanted, Bush and Thompson for murder and neglect of persons with AIDS." They actually hijacked the stage, hijacked the auditorium for about 15 minutes. You can hear them chanting "no more lies, no more lies," things like that.
The secretary was actually forced to sit and watch sternly for about 15 minutes, and then delivered a largely inaudible speech for about 10 minutes after that.
Former President Clinton and Nelson Mandela were both here as of yesterday. Former President Clinton actually met with folks from MTV to talk about youth and AIDS. This was a very well received discussion. he then met with world leaders late last night, and then with Nelson Mandela actually delivered the closing speech at the World's AIDS Center Conference just a few hours ago. He was greeted very, very warmly. And really put in perspective for the 15,000 delegates. This is what he had to say:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How could we explain to a visitor from outerspace this situation? The world is being consumed by a disease that is preventable, with drugs that turn a death sentence into a chronic illness and prevent mother- to-child transmission, with example after example of nations that have reversed the infection. How could we explain that to someone who had not lived through it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Forty million people have HIV in the world today. Twenty million have died over the last 20 years. Seventy million are expected to die over the next 20 years. As Nelson Mandela put it, that is more deaths from AIDs and HIV than from all the wars and all the natural disasters put together. That's what people are talking about in Barcelona -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Those numbers, Sanjay, are just staggering. Getting back to former President Clinton, I guess he wasn't just critical of leaders today as doing some introspection, self-introspection, in saying that he would have done things differently in his presidency when it concerned AIDS.
GUPTA: No question, Daryn, that was one of the big questions posed to him. Certainly, he has come into Barcelona, saying that the United States needs to be spending $2.5 billion, as opposed to the $500 or $800 million that they have pledged, very different numbers. He said that that's about the amount that's spent every two months for the war in Afghanistan.
Asked -- reasonably asked after that, well, why didn't he do that when he was president? He did say exactly that, Daryn, that he probably would have done things differently, with respect to funding. He also said he probably would have done things differently with respect to needle exchange programs, which as you may remember, Daryn, was a very controversial subject just a few years ago when he was president, remains controversial to this day. Many scientist say that will curb the epidemic of AIDS, yet it is not something that has been accepted by either President Clinton or Bush.
KAGAN: It's not so easy when you're in office to make some of those tougher stands.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Barcelona.
Sanjay, thank you so much.
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