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American Morning

Entertainer Harry Belafonte Discusses AIDS in Africa

Aired June 26, 2001 - 10:51   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: Entertainer and UNICEF ambassador Harry Belafonte is fighting AIDS in Africa through his personal appearances and his foundation. He's with us this morning, from New York.

Mr. Belafonte, good morning. It's a pleasure to have you with us today.

HARRY BELAFONTE, UNICEF GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: Good morning. It's wonderful to be here.

KAGAN: I understand you're just back from a recent trip to South Africa?

BELAFONTE: Yes -- and I'd like, before getting into that, just to express our great joy at Colin Powell's point and the position he's taken on the whole issue of HIV-AIDS. What he's just said could not be more on target. And more of that needs to be said by more leaders in the world.

Having just come back from South Africa, I've had a chance to speak to President Thabo Mbeki and all of the leaders in that country, who are struggling desperately, and in many instances successfully, in trying to confront and stem the spread of this dreaded disease.

KAGAN: What about the criticism Mr. Mbeki is getting as a leader of South Africa and the dire problem is has with AIDS. Do you think he should be at this conference at the United Nations?

BELAFONTE: I certainly would have welcomed him coming to the conference because I think the position that he takes on the issue makes a lot of sense. What he's done by raising the questions that he's raised is he's forced a greater dialogue within the HIV-AIDS community on a discussion as to how best to contain the spread of the disease and how we can best pursue research that will help find cure. If anyone would ask me what I think is the greatest villain that exists at this moment in relationship to this disease, I would have to say that it is ignorance: That people who sit in poverty, who are trapped in poverty, who are literate, who have no access to the health care facilities, whose conditions are already seriously jeopardized by malnutrition and all those things that come out of desperate population is very, very much central to why this disease is so rampant on the continent.

KAGAN: Give us an idea of what you witnessed when you were over there just recently, some of the issues that stay with you.

BELAFONTE: I went into villages where people have been distanced by other villages because they are the possessors of the HIV-AIDS. I went to one hut where there was a woman who has been lying there. At the time when we found her, she was on her way to a better day. But up until that moment, she had been in her hut for almost 10 days without anyone coming to visit her -- her children were hungry, crying, nobody -- because everyone sitting under the misinformation as to what HIV was about would not come to her rescue and her assistance. They finally did, and we are putting resources in to help her find a more comfortable way in which to live out her life, and her children are now being attend to by health care workers.

But we're boldly understaffed. We are on demand in terms of the numbers of people that we need. And we are underfurnished in terms of supplies as well as money.

KAGAN: You had the opportunity to see these things firsthand. Most Americans do not. And if I could be cynical for a moment, I would imagine that one of the biggest problems besides ignorance is apathy. How do you make people here in the United States care about people who live so far away and are suffering so terribly.

BELAFONTE: I'll be quite honest: by insisting that those who communicate information -- media, all sorts of media, I think have got to take a far more aggressive, consistent commitment to imparting information, putting in the way of cynicism. Let them stumble over it. Let them get annoyed at hearing it more than they would hope they would want to hear it. I think by that persistence we will educate and the bring the level of consciousness up to a more intense play field.

KAGAN: What will be your message when you address the United Nations special session?

BELAFONTE: That I would help hope that donor nations, individuals and foundations, like the Kaiser Foundation, would not give up in some frustration because they believe their moneys are not making a difference. Do not give up your commitment, because there's a lot of hope out here and a lot of things that are being done that are remarkable in helping to turn the corner on this pandemic.

KAGAN: Harry Belafonte, thank you so much for your time and for your good work, sir. Good to have you with us.

BELAFONTE: Thank you very, very much.

KAGAN: And the conversation will continue with Harry Belafonte. Just go on to cnn.com, and he'll be in a room. In the next hour, you can talk with him yourself.

Good to see you. Thank you.

BELAFONTE: Thank you.

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