DATE=04/06/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ U-N-AIDS / HUMAN RIGHTS

NUMBER=2-288397

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

/// RE-RUNNING TO PUT AIDS IN UPPER CASE IN INTRO. NO OTHER CHANGES. ///

INTRO: The Director of the United Nations AIDS program says discrimination against victims of H-I-V/AIDS is a key factor in the spread of the disease. Lisa Schlein reports Dr. Peter Piot told a meeting of the U-N Human

Rights Commission that respecting the human rights of H-I-V/AIDS sufferers

would help curb the spread of the pandemic.

TEXT: U-N-AIDS Director, Peter Piot says the H-I-V epidemic now ranks as the

most devastating ever. U-N figures show more than 60 million people

world wide are infected and 20 million have died. H-I-V/AIDS is the

leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth biggest global

killer. Dr. Piot notes life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is now 47

years. Without AIDS, it would have been 62 years. He says discrimination

and stigmatization of AIDS sufferers drives the disease underground and contributes to the spread of the disease, worsening the epidemic

in a vicious cycle.

///PIOT ACT///

Human rights promotion and protection is essential to reversing this vicious cycle. This is one of the most important lessons of the last 20 years of fighting AIDS. As freedom from discrimination makes people with HIV less fearful of disclosing their status it gives them greater capacity to organize together and to contribute to the

response.

///END ACT///

Dr. Piot says human rights and fundamental freedoms are essential to reduce

vulnerability to H-I-V/AIDS. He says people stricken with the disease,

regardless of whether they are rich or poor, should have equal access to the

medicines which can treat them. But, he notes unequal access to

H-I-V/AIDS-related treatments remains a global reality.

///2ND PIOT ACT///

Differential pricing and licensing for production and importation can improve access to H-I-V treatments, while protecting the profits that the pharmaceutical industry needs to sustain new research. We do have a responsibility to find a new way of doing business that would take advantage of these mechanisms, ensuring continued innovation in pharmaceutical research while making new HIV medicines available and affordable to all people living with HIV.

///END ACT///

The U-N-AIDS chief notes the price of antiretroviral therapy has dropped from

around 12-thousand U-S dollars two year ago to around 350 dollars in the poorest countries today. He acknowledges that even this figure is unaffordable for most people in severely affected countries. Dr. Piot urges governments in rich and poor countries alike to commit more money to buy these medicines so the drugs reach those people in greatest need. (Signed)

NEB/LS/KBK