United Press International - Friday, July 09, 2004
Reena Vadehra, UPI Correspondent

The film examines the nature of the epidemic in Uganda, South Africa and Botswana.

"Stepping Up: America Responds to Global AIDS," produced by the Marlo Group, will premiere at the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok next week.

Over 15,000 delegates from 160 countries will attend the weeklong event. This year's theme is "Access for All."

At a reception for the launch of the film in Washington Tuesday, medical experts, AIDS activists and government leaders gathered to watch a 15-minute clip of the hour-long documentary.

"This is a film that can bring the dimensions of this tragedy into peoples' homes and make people understand this in terms that are more human, personal and real," Ambassador Randall Tobias, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, said.

"Certainly in the United States, the vast majority of the American people know that AIDS is an issue around the world but they have no concept that the equivalent of 20 Boeing 747s going down every day is the number of people dying," Tobias said.

"Stepping Up" begins in a rural hospital for children with HIV in Uganda. The building is run-down, with little food, no laboratories and no electricity or running water. Mothers have to sleep on the floor next to their children's beds, as there is no space to accommodate them.

In South Africa, the myths associated with HIV/AIDS are explored. One man says that just by looking at women from the side, you can tell they are inferior.

An HIV-infected woman in an outpatient clinic in South Africa explains how the stigma of the virus stops women from coming forward to be tested.

At Dula Sentle, a day-care center for orphans in Botswana, the children gather in front of the camera to sing a song titled "Sometimes," dedicated to the passing of their parents due to HIV/AIDS.

These are a few of the programs the Bush AIDS initiative seeks to fund.

Launched in 2003, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief aims to prevent 7 million new infections and provide treatment for 2 million HIV infected people in five years through a $15 billion program.

"We have the largest, most complex humanitarian relief effort ever in the history of the world. We Americans have a good reason to be proud of this initiative," said Abner Mason, executive director of the AIDS Responsibility Project.

Some success has been seen, especially in Uganda, where the infection rates were at a high of 30 percent in the 1990s and currently are estimated at around 6 percent. The reduction is attributed to President Yoweri Museveni's vigorous prevention campaign -- ABC: Abstinence, Be Faithful, or Use Condoms.

On June 11, 2004, Uganda began providing free anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS patients.

For Sissy Suunna, a Ugandan, HIV-positive mother and widow whose story was documented in "Stepping Up," much work still needs to be done.

"We are worried about the people who have started treatment and will not continue because they cannot afford to pay for their anti-retroviral therapy. How is PEPFAR going to help us so that we can continue accessing therapy?" Suunna said at the Washington launch.

Suunna has struggled to pay for her own anti-retroviral drugs.

"When I needed it (drugs) I could not afford it if it were not for my brother to sell his home and land," Suunna said.

The launch of the film comes on the heels of a report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimating that in 2003 there were five million new HIV infections, more than in any previous year.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst hit by HIV/AIDS. Whereas the worldwide infection rate averages about 1.1 percent, in sub-Saharan Africa the infection rate is from 7.5 - 8.5 percent.

According to UNAIDS, two-thirds of all people living with HIV, about 25 million people, live in sub-Saharan Africa.

"The numbers are staggering," Mason said. "But it is important that we not get lost in the numbers because that can paralyze us and cause us not to act or it can cause us to become complacent because we think we can't do anything about it."

"We know how daunting the arithmetic is without a substantial breakthrough on a vaccine," Senator Richard D. Lugar added.

"Stepping Up" supporters are airing the film in Bangkok in hopes that the U.S. AIDS policy will catch on in other countries.

"We've stepped up now and it's not too late. Even with the enormous U.S. resources, we can't do it alone. We have got to encourage other wealthy nations, the French, the British, the Germans, the Japanese," Mason said.

The documentary will also be distributed to public high schools in the United States on World AIDS Day, December 1. There are plans to distribute and screen the film at U.S. embassies as well.

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