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American Morning

United Nations Holds Special Meeting on AIDS Epidemic

Aired June 25, 2001 - 09:05   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The AIDS pandemic is the focus of a special meeting now under way at the United Nations. Leading the group of more than 3,000 attendees is U.S. -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is calling for action and funds to stop the disease that has claimed an estimated 22 million lives and counting.

CNN's Christy Feig has more on the devastating impact of AIDS.

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CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): AIDS causes emotional pain, takes lives, tears families apart, but it's also a story of money -- not enough to fight it and money lost to the disease. Of the more than 36 million infected with HIV and AIDS and the estimated 22 million more who have died, the vast majority live in sub-Saharan Africa where neither the people or their governments can afford the medicines that save lives in the West. What sub-Saharan Africa is seeing now gives a glimpse of where other countries may be headed if the epidemic is left unchecked. Most deaths are adults between the ages of 20 and 40.

ALAN WHITESIDE, UNIVERSITY OF NATAL SOUTH AFRICA: What this means is effectively a hollowing out and the development of an orphaned generation at one end and a generation of older people who have no one to take care of them at the other end.

FEIG: It also leaves the country without its primary work force, leading to a decline in their economies. More than 13 million children have been orphaned because of the disease, a number that is predicted to triple within 10 years. Some say the mix of a declining economy and children without parents is a recipe for political instability.

DR. PETER PIOT, UNAIDS: This may give rise to civil unrest and conflict. All that in today's global world means that it will affect ultimately any country in the world.

FEIG: It's that concern and the rapidly spreading epidemic that is bringing world leaders together at the United Nations. Experts say without treatment, India could be the next Africa. In China, cases have more than doubled in the past two years. They double every year in Russia. And the Caribbean has some of the highest HIV rates outside Africa.

(on camera): Recently, the leaders of the United Nations created the global AIDS fund to help developing countries. But all agree money is nothing without the willingness of governments to fight the epidemic.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

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