Actor Richard Gere brought his star power to the International Aids Conference yesterday, calling HIV-AIDS the “true terrorist on the planet today.”
At a news conference to announce a public-service campaign in India, Mr. Gere said he has been involved in the HIV-AIDS movement since the 1980s and hopes India does not make the same mistakes the United States did in dealing with the epidemic.
“It is deeply important to me that India not make the mistakes we made in America,” said a silver-haired Mr. Gere, looking relaxed in a blue shirt and tan suit jacket. “We had no leadership. We didn't take it seriously and hundreds of thousands of people died who didn't have to.”
A report released last week by India's Registrar-General and Census Commissioner estimated that about 11 million people in India could die of AIDS-related illnesses by 2026. Based on demographic trends, the report said an additional five million children who might not be born as a result of the early deaths of HIV-positive women could be “missing.”
Yesterday, Mr. Gere sounded hopeful about India, saying the incidence of HIV is currently running at about 1 per cent of the population. If India is able to keep it at that level, “there's a good possibility we are not going to see 10 million or 20 million more die,” he said.
At yesterday's news conference, the Heroes Project, of which Mr. Gere is a co-chair, and STAR India, the leading television network in India, announced a two-year extension of their HIV-AIDS stigma reduction and prevention campaign through the use of public-service television messages, many of which send the message: “No Condoms, No Sex.”
As he has grown older, the New-York-based movie star explained that he has had to make some hard decisions about how he is to make his remaining years the most meaningful he can.
“Probably the most important [issue] to me was HIV-AIDS,” he said. “It's the true terrorist on the planet today.”
