Sex, Needles & Rubles

Script by Mark Hertsgaard
LinkTV, Sep 1, 2006

INTRO:

Welcome to Spotlight, Link TV's weekly series of investigative reports from around the world. I'm Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco, and this episode the spotlight is on AIDS in Russia.

AIDS has become the deadliest epidemic in human history. Since its discovery in 1981, AIDS has killed 25 million people and infected 40 million more. Treatment has improved in recent years, but only the affluent enjoy access to it. Globally, according to the UN, only one in five HIV patients get the drugs they need.

And experts warn that the worst is still to come, as the virus spreads from high-risk groups to general populations. In Africa alone, 100 million people are projected to die, dwarfing the death toll of the 1918 influenza epidemic and the Black Death of 14th century Europe.

AIDS is spreading particularly quickly in Russia, where the shock transition to capitalism has reduced two thirds of the public to below or very near the poverty level. What hope exists against AIDS in Russia comes largely from foreign volunteers who, as you're about to see, struggle against immense obstacles.

We'll be back afterwards with an update. For now, from Laika Productions in France, here is, Sex, Needles & Rubles, on Link TV, your connection to the world.

OUTRO:

You're watching Spotlight on Link TV. I'm Mark Hertsgaard.

Fortunately, there is also encouraging news on the AIDS front; treatment and public education work. What's required is a willingness to fund them.

Global AIDS spending rose to $8.3 billion in 2005, which helped the World Health Organization provide treatment to over one million new patients. When the International Monetary Fund cancelled $5 billion of Zambia's foreign debt, the government announced free basic healthcare for all citizens.

Russia could make a similar choice. Rising energy prices have recently given Moscow a huge financial windfall. Some of that money could go to upgrade a health care system that otherwise might collapse entirely from the future AIDS burden.

Likewise, internationally: The UN estimates that new AIDS infections could fall 50 percent by 2020, but only if AIDS funding triples to $23 billion a year—that's about 2 percent of the world's annual military budget.

If you want to find out more about these issues, check out the resources listed at the end of this program. You can also find those resources at our website, www.linktv.org. Following those listings you'll see a clip from next week's program. Until then, this is Mark Hertsgaard in San Francisco for Spotlight. Thanks for joining us.