LONDON, Nov 29 (AFP) - The AIDS pandemic has become one of the world's biggest security threats, along with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Friday.
In an interview with the BBC, Annan said he particuarly regretted the lack of political will to fight it the disease.
"It is a security problem and it's not just in Africa," where most of the 28 million deaths from AIDS have occurred so far, Annan said.
"It's spreading very fast in Asia, in Eastern Europe and in the Caribbean and even in this country it's on the way up", Annan said in his office at the United Nations in New York
Calling AIDS "a weapon of mass destruction," the UN chief blamed world leaders for not giving enough funds and attention to the problem.
"I feel angry, I feel distressed, I feel helpless and I also feel that, to live in a world where we have the means, we have the resources to be able to help all these patients, what is lacking is the political will", Annan said.
Some 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV/AIDS and of these, 2.5 million are children, figures from most recent report by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization showed. The report was released ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1.
The report put the number of new infections at five million. It also estimated that three million people would died from the disease this year.
The document also warned that the figures could rise sharply in the years ahead, with Eastern Europe and Central Asia on the verge of epidemics.
"Those who think AIDS is over are dreaming. It is one of the most serious epidemics the world has ever faced, and we need to really, really get serious about it," Annan said.
Two years ago, Annan launched the Global Fund to combat AIDS and other major infectious diseases, saying it would need between seven and 10 billion dollars a year when it was fully operational.
He stressed that rich countries had not contributed nearly enough to the fight against the disease.
"We estimate that, by 2005, we will need 10 billion dollars worldwide per annum to fight the disease. Today I'm trying to see if we can get three billion dollars a year for the next five years" Annan said.
He said he would like to see the EU and the United States contributing one billion dollars each annually for five years and another one billion coming from other resources, but stressed that would be not enough.
"We've got the seven billion dollars. I'm grateful for that, but that is not enough. We need much, much more," the UN chief said.
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