New York City’s WNBC Interviews U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis
New York City television station WNBC's "Gabe Pressman's NEWS FORUM" yesterday interviewed U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis. Lewis said that drug companies and African nations have worked to reduce the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs to $300 per person per year and that if the "donor nations were to give the resources, which they've promised, but never delivered on, we could make a huge difference to the pandemic and ... prolong and save lives." Lewis said that President Bush's plan to increase funding for HIV/AIDS in Africa will "make a real difference" in fighting the disease, but he added that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria needs "a good deal more" than Bush's pledge. Lewis also talked about how HIV/AIDS has "fractur[ed] and dismember[ed]" African societies and could cause an increase in terrorism. In addition, he addressed how a war with Iraq could "diminis[h]" the United States' response to HIV/AIDS in Africa (Pressman, "Gabe Pressman's NEWS FORUM," WNBC, 3/2). A transcript of the interview is available online.
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