Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

World AIDS Conference Gets Under Way in Barcelona

Aired July 07, 2002 - 08:21   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: Some unnerving news is coming out of the World AIDS Conference that's under way in Spain. New figures show 40 million people are living with the AIDS virus now. It's expected to be more than double within a decade. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is attending that conference, and he files this report on the global crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a time of frustration for those fighting AIDS. Twenty years into the epidemic, the disease is showing no signs of leveling off, and the money needed to contain it in the countries hardest hit just isn't available.

DR. PETER PIOT, UNAIDS: The world needs $10 billion per year to treat those with HIV in the poor nations, to make sure that the number of new infections is going down dramatically, and to take care of orphans. We are today at the $3 billion mark.

GUPTA: Without treatment, the disease means certain death. Worldwide, it's already killed 20 million. Another 40 million are currently infected.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit the hardest, and the disease continues to spread in places bike Botswana, which has the highest problems in the world -- almost half the adults are infected with HIV.

PIOT: This has huge implications for the economic and social development of the whole continent.

GUPTA: And what Africa is seeing now could be foreshadowing for countries where the epidemic is just beginning.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIH: It's a very serious problem in China. It is also potentially quite explosive in other Asian countries, such as India and countries in the Southeast Asia.

GUPTA: It's spreading most rapidly in the former Soviet Union, particularly Russia. One of the most pressing needs, experts say, access to treatment. In the West, half a million people are receiving HIV treatment, and last year, 25,000 died from AIDS. Compare that to Africa, where only 30,000 are receiving treatment, and last year, there were 2.2 million deaths. PIOT: Without expanding prevention and treatment efforts in the developing world, that over the next decades, tens of millions of people are going to die. We estimate about 70 million people will die over the next 20 years. That whole economists will collapse in Africa.

GUPTA (on camera): A very bleak picture, no doubt. And the focus of this meeting here in Barcelona is how to prevent that from happening with the limited resources that exist.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Barcelona, Spain.

(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