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World Leaders Concede They Are Losing Battle Against AIDS

Aired December 01, 2003 - 10:28   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: This is World AIDS Day, and from the U.S. to the United Nations, a grim consensus is building: health officials are losing the fight. That might come as a surprise to many young people, especially young Americans, who wrongly believe that the deadly disease is no longer the threat that it was to their parents.
Our Susan Candiotti has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Kelly Pagan's science class, the topic is AIDS. Getting to young people early, experts say, is the best way to convince them no one is invulnerable to the HIV virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there like a medicine or something you can take to cure HIV?

KELLY PAGAN, TEACHER: No. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS.

When you hear the questions the kids ask, you realize how much they really don't know.

CANDIOTTI: But through exercises that teach the truth about risky behavior, students appear to get the message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred percent abstinence, just don't do anything. Just stay safe, and if you're going to do it with somebody, get tested or just make sure that you use protection.

JAMES JONES, AIDS CARE COORDINATOR: I always practiced safe sex.

CANDIOTTI: James Jones thought he knew how to protect himself.

JONES: But sometimes at the spur of the moment or because of alcohol or another drug or anything, you might just forget and don't use (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at one time.

CANDIOTTI: Jones, who works with AIDS patients, has been HIV- positive for seven years.

(on camera): A lot of bottles here.

JONES: Right.

CANDIOTTI: One, two, three, four, five?

(voice-over): He takes 16 pills a day. Dreads it, he says. Jones worries about today's young people.

JONES: A lot of the younger people and stuff think they're invincible. They're Superman. I mean, I was young once, and I said, 'It can't happen to me. It can happen to that person there, but it can't happen to me.'

CANDIOTTI: AIDS researcher and practitioner, Gwendolyn Scott:

DR. GWENDOLYN SCOTT, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: We really need to work on demystifying HIV, so to speak, and to make it a disease that we talk about.

CANDIOTTI: Advice Mrs. Pagan's science class is putting to use in hopes of slowing the spread of the AIDS virus.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired December 1, 2003 - 10:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is World AIDS Day, and from the U.S. to the United Nations, a grim consensus is building: health officials are losing the fight. That might come as a surprise to many young people, especially young Americans, who wrongly believe that the deadly disease is no longer the threat that it was to their parents.
Our Susan Candiotti has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Kelly Pagan's science class, the topic is AIDS. Getting to young people early, experts say, is the best way to convince them no one is invulnerable to the HIV virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there like a medicine or something you can take to cure HIV?

KELLY PAGAN, TEACHER: No. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS.

When you hear the questions the kids ask, you realize how much they really don't know.

CANDIOTTI: But through exercises that teach the truth about risky behavior, students appear to get the message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred percent abstinence, just don't do anything. Just stay safe, and if you're going to do it with somebody, get tested or just make sure that you use protection.

JAMES JONES, AIDS CARE COORDINATOR: I always practiced safe sex.

CANDIOTTI: James Jones thought he knew how to protect himself.

JONES: But sometimes at the spur of the moment or because of alcohol or another drug or anything, you might just forget and don't use (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at one time.

CANDIOTTI: Jones, who works with AIDS patients, has been HIV- positive for seven years.

(on camera): A lot of bottles here.

JONES: Right.

CANDIOTTI: One, two, three, four, five?

(voice-over): He takes 16 pills a day. Dreads it, he says. Jones worries about today's young people.

JONES: A lot of the younger people and stuff think they're invincible. They're Superman. I mean, I was young once, and I said, 'It can't happen to me. It can happen to that person there, but it can't happen to me.'

CANDIOTTI: AIDS researcher and practitioner, Gwendolyn Scott:

DR. GWENDOLYN SCOTT, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: We really need to work on demystifying HIV, so to speak, and to make it a disease that we talk about.

CANDIOTTI: Advice Mrs. Pagan's science class is putting to use in hopes of slowing the spread of the AIDS virus.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.