AIDS: Out Of Control In India. (CBS, 60 Minutes)

[Guest guest]

AIDS: Out Of Control In India

April 11, 2004

(CBS, 60 Minutes) The world's richest man is hoping his gift of $200 million

will help curtail a rising AIDS epidemic that could prevent the country of India

from reaching its enormous potential as a world power.

Bill Gates talks to Correspondent Bob Simon for a 60 Minutes report on AIDS in

India, Sunday, April 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Gates recently announced he would donate the money to a large-scale AIDS

prevention program aimed at the people of India.

" This is the largest initiative focused on a single country we've ever done, " he

tells Simon. " The focus that we have in India, at this stage, is prevention.

That's our expertise. "

Nearly 1 percent of the Indian population is infected with HIV/AIDS. Experts

believe that India is close to the tipping point, where if it is not brought

under control, the AIDS epidemic could become as serious as that of southern

Africa.

India is among America's closest allies and a key stabilizing power in Asia. Its

economy is also intertwined with that of the U.S., so an out-of-control AIDS

problem could lead to trouble in Asia and a rise of U.S. cases of the disease.

" India's very important. It's the world's largest democracy. It's doing a great

job in its educational institutions, " says Gates, whose company, Microsoft, has

benefited from India's engineers and programmers. " India is on the brink of

success and one of the only things that stands in the way of that...is making

sure that there's not a widespread AIDS epidemic. "

AIDS is already at alarming rates, however, and Gates' decision to provide

condoms and education comes mainly from the fact that in a country of more than

a billion people, even he can't afford to buy treatment for all those suffering

from the disease.

But Dr. Suniti , who set up one of the first AIDS hospitals in India,

says drugs are the only way to combat AIDS in a society where discussing sex is

taboo. She believes the only reason people will come to her hospital is for the

drugs to fight the disease they already have.

She says they wouldn't come in to get just condoms or brochures: " Girls don't

want to know about [AIDS] and it's...immoral to talk about these things. "

Thanks to weak Indian laws on patents, entrepreneurs are legally knocking off

the AIDS drugs manufactured in the West and selling them at a fraction of what

they sell for in countries like the U.S. Still, the cost is well above what the

average person can afford in India.

Many Indians with AIDS who can buy some drugs cannot afford to buy enough to

take them regularly, causing the disease to mutate sometimes into new

drug-resistant strains.

The CIA has warned that drug-resistant strains have already begun showing up

around the world. Despite this, the U.S. contributes less than 1 percent of its

AIDS budget specifically to India.

©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. .

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