ok, we'll get through this together. >> now, from abc7, "beyond the headlines" with cheryl jennings. >> we have some encouraging news about the virus that causes aids. the good news is that the number of new cases is declining in this country thanks to advances in medicine, awareness, and early testing. and we hope that everyone will check their status with a simple blood test. now the bad news is that the aids virus is still causing a deadly plague in several countries around the world. a prominent bay area pediatrician, dr. art ammann, battled the aids crisis here among children from the very beginning, and now he's working in africa to help families there. he's been honored for founding an international organization called global strategies for hiv prevention. this man is a legend. he started working on the aids crisis 35 years ago, and at the

age of 81? >> 81 now. >> oh, my goodness. you are still fighting the fight with this book. but just for folks who don't know what you did back in the day, you made history. you changed the course of the aids epidemic. >> it was an extraordinary time, cheryl, as you know, because you covered a lot of what happened and did a lot of the interviews. but we had a new disease that was unknown cause. at first, the thought was that it affected only gay men. but then, in a short time, it became evident that this affected women and children, and that was my part. i was a pediatrician. we were doing immunologic tests, and within six months of michael gottlieb's discovery of aids, we found women and children who had the same symptomatology and we felt that they were also aids. so it told us that this was being transmitted probably by a virus -- we didn't know what the virus was in '81, '82 -- and that it was transmitted by blood transfusions, which we found the first case of here in san francisco, and then from

mothers to infants. and that expanded the idea of what was gonna happen in this epidemic. and it was really dreadful, and we used to think what would happen if this epidemic expanded. >> and i remember meeting some of the children who were infected. unfortunately, they all died very young, because there wasn't any treatment for them. the treatments were hard enough to get for the adults. >> well, it was urgent. i mean, basically, the young men with aids were dying -- there was no treatment until 1987 -- from 1981 to '87. and for children, it was hard to explain, and for the first time i think in medical history, modern medical history anyway, we had a disease that was affecting all members in the family -- the sexual partners, the husbands and wives, and the children. so unlike other diseases, where you have one person involved, here you had three, four, five members of the family. and it was devastating. >> one of the things that i came across when i was trying to tell the story about the aids epidemic was certainly the

confidentiality. i couldn't really tell the story, because i had no people to tell me the story, so i did it anecdotally through doctors. but then i learned that the children who were born, people were so afraid of them, even their own parents. they wouldn't even hold their children. their little babies would go unnurtured. >> it was a general phenomenon, i mean not knowing what it was. we always made a point, even when we discovered hiv, the virus which was discovered by luc montagnier and bob gallo, we made a point of associating with the patients. we would go into the rooms. we would have lunch. we would eat the with the patients to say that this is not contagious. and i continue that, even up until recently when i go to poor countries and i see a woman or a man with aids in a dark hut off to the side in the darkness and nobody's going near them. i walk right over, sit on the bed, grab their hands, and hold on to them, because not only is it not contagious, but they need help -- they need psychological help. they need the same compassion as with any other disease.

>> and that's really important to remind people even these days. we tend to think, in this country, that the aids epidemic is over, but for those who are still afraid of it, there are precautions you can take --uld r people who might still be afraid of this? >> well, we take universal precautions because we don't know oftentimes what we're dealing with. so, for example, the anthrax epidemic. as much as we talk about the science and not having a vaccine, that was really controlled by universal precautions -- washing hands, using latex gloves, using gowns. and the number of people that got infected were usually people that weren't using universal precautions. but using those, you could prevent the spread of anthrax. and hiv was never that contagious. it needed direct contact. but t to stigmatize them>> righy ou know, not to close the door and put them in a room and put a label on the door, as was done with some diseases and in older times with other diseases like the black plague. the stigmatization was because

they didn't know how to protect themselves. >> you call this a plague. you call aids a plague. "epidemic" is used for so many things now, and to me, it doesn't carry the emotion. we talk about the black plague and the smallpox plague, and what i've tried to do in the book is to try and remind people that this has not gone away. i mean, this is still a plague. and i've tried to link in the book and in talks that i give, basically highlighting the fact that this is not just one plague. it's a plague of hiv and violence against women, because what i emphasize now is the neglected population. >> but you also -- part of this came from your research in africa. you have a program that's operating in africa right now. what is the name of that? >> yeah, we have global strategies, which addresses the hiv epidemic and violence against women in some of the

most unstable countries. i mean, we deliberately select them, because that's where people don't go. in democratic republic of congo, for example, we are the only group. we have the laest hiprfor womenn there's really no stable government there. and so, there are about 40,000 to 80,000 women that get raped there each year. many of them get hiv-infected. treatment is hard to get to them. these are areas that are very different than johannesburg or kampala, uganda, where we still have problems, but they have access. >> in just a moment, you'll see why dr. ammann wants us to be a voice for those who need help with hiv prevention, and you'll see how dr. ammann is using provocative artwork which he created to shock people into getting the message that there are two epidemics affecting women -- sexual and physical violence, and hiv.

♪

>> we're continuing our discussion with dr. art ammann, a northern california pediatrician and activist who is known for his breakthrough research on hiv transmission. he was at the forefront of the aids crisis more than 35 years ago. he's angry that medicine that could save lives right now is not easily available overseas. but things change dramatically when the medicine does reach the communities helped by his global strategies foundation. >> it's extraordinary. i mean, you talk to the people themselves. and they know they're hiv infected -- we provide the tests -- and they see that their babies are not born. they also see the transformation of lives that we've seen here, where you'll give an antiretroviral drug to someone who's infected and they get better. they don't have to go to the hospital. and for women who undergo these really savage episodes of violence where they get what are called vesicovaginal fistulas. i mean, the violence is so

severe that there's openings between the genital organs, and they require surgery. but we can do something about it. i mean, the violence against women is centuries old, and we recognize that. but there's immediate things you can do to not multiple the violence. so women who are raped, we provide what's called post-exposure prophylaxis. and in that kit, which is a simple kit, is a drug you take once to prevent sexually-transmitted infections, there's antiretrovirals to prevent hiv infection, and then there's plan b to prevent unwanted pregnancy. >> wow. >> so a woman who is raped -- it's a traumatic event, but people don't understand that what happens after that rape is like a viral land mine. you and i talked about viral land mine. but that virus can be implanted there, and that will haunt the woman and the village -- she'll besowean do me we'rdog it in democratic

nobeing used more widely. we can't put it in the back of our minds, especially when there's something that we can do. we're very good at looking at something new, some new technology, some new medicine, and we forget that here's medicine that can protect a woman from a fatal disease and can protect her family from losses and nurture and can protect a child from hiv as its transmitted from mother to infant. and it's inexpensive and simple to use. we need to look at that and say, "why aren't we doing it? why have we lost this vision, this compassion, of what is happening in this country to some extent and certainly much more severe..." >> i know that you're taking a leadership role in this, because you want to see this stop. you've been seeing it for your entire career. you told me a story off-camera about how bad the violence is with military troops going into villages. >> what's interesting is, you know, we sometimes think that people are not educated about hiv, but many of the rebel

troops are aware that if they are infected themselves that they can use that infection to transmit to the opposition, especially women. so they will deliberately rape a woman to get her pregnant, and that's giving her a baby from another tribe or another area -- like in bosnia. that happened there with ethnicity. but here, it's knowing that if i give this virus to the woman, she is probably going to transmit it to her husband, her sexual partner. when she goes back to the village, it's gonna be implanted in the village. her children will get it. so it's -- it's a deliberate use of hiv infection as a weapon of war. in rwanda, which is the worst example, we focus on the massacre, the killing. but people forget that hundreds of thousands of women were deliberately infected with hiv and died as a result -- not of the violence, the machete, but died of the hiv infection, because they couldn't get treatment. >> before we run out of time, i

want to talk about your book. this other book. you have two books. >> yes. >> this book has some provocative art in it, and we can't show some of those problem pictures, but if you could just describe the reason you did this before we run out of time. >> so, my other book, the "lethal decisions," was written almost like elie wiesel wrote the night he accepted his nobel prize, "i had to write it. i had to tell the story." and so that book had to tell the story of we've been successful, yes, but we can't say we've been successful in ending the epidemic worldwide. and it goes into why. as i dealt with the violence against women in these poor countries, i realized i was really dealing with two epidemics -- an epidemic of hiv, certainly, but an epidemic of violence. and they weren't separate. they were related. so going through my mind was... there are lots of documentaries about violence against women and documentaries that have been done by all the major networks and people talking about violence against women, but it didn't change things.

and so i felt maybe if i could express it in an artistic way that still maintained the dignity of women but still talked about the epidemic, i would do that. so for 10 years, i wandered into museums and saw paintings 100 years old, and i looked around the biology and i saw representations of the aids epidemic. and so what i did was put together these images into photo montages that really, if you look at each one, say, there's a component of violence, and it's especially against women. and the two are together. so i'm hoping with the exhibit, which is gonna be for the first time exhibited publicly -- you've seen it privately. raised your eyebrows. but it's sensitive. i think it's provocative. it shows some of the violence, but it still maintains the dignity of the women and says, "we've got to do something about this." you've got to look at it and say, "i can't walk away from this and do nothing," and there

are things that can be done. >> all right. doctor, thank you. thank you very much. appreciate it. you can find out more information about dr. ammann's artwork and his book, "lethal decisions," on our website. when we come back, you're going to hear from two people who are working to build an orphanage in one african village for children whose parents died from aids. >> [ indistinct chatter ]

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in the bay area more than 30 years ago is now focusing her attention on children with hiv joining me in the studio is dr. geri delaroso with sunburst projects and her colleague david ooko, who is working with geri on a major project. thank you both for being here. you've come a long way. >> yeah, i have. it's been a long, long, long distance traveling. >> you're working on a couple of projects. >> yeah, i'm working on family village in the village in kisumu, which is in western kenya, yes. >> and geri, i know that the two of you just met in the last year or so. can you expand on the project that you're working on together? >> sure. well, as you know, cheryl, i first began working in kenya with sunburst projects kenya and the program that we started in kenya about seven years ago. and last year, i had the good fortune of meeting dan. we had tried to get together

over time. it had been a few years trying to connect, and finally we did connect. and we met at his family's homestead, where he has begun to create a family village for the children in the community. and he's in the process of building a school. and as we began to talk, we came to realize that our hearts are so much in the same place that it would be wonderful if we could come together and bring both organizations together. so, we have decided to do that. >> so, the name of your project is...? >> cecilia's family village. >> this is in honor of your late mother. >> yes. this is in a homestead that my parents left me and my other siblings, and we grew up there as orphans. and we spent a number of years with my mother there, and she

struggled with us through that period. and so when i decided to do this, i wanted to do it in their memory. and i chose the name of my mother because of the motherliness that she showed us and that the world needs. >> it definitely does need that. >> yeah, sure. yeah. >> and geri, so this is one of a couple projects. >> right. so, dan and i came together, and our hope is to create this family village that will also be an opportunity for the children that go to camp sunburst kenya to also utilize the space. and we would also like to bring to the village some of the work that we're doing in the kisumu area at the clinics, which would be to provide social/psych support to the community as well. >> and you and i met many, many years ago when the aids crisis was first starting, and there

was nothing for children. and you were the one who taught me about that, and i'll never forget that. thank you so much for doing that. when i met those kids, you told me that people wouldn't even hold them. >> that's right. >> and so you've seen this, dan, i'm sure. aids is almost wiped out with children here, thankfully. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> but it's rampant, and you said the statistics are just terrible in africa. >> yeah, it's it, and especially in the nyanza region where i'm working in. it's one of the highly affected area -- it's in central africa if not the highest in africa. so it's -- it's horrible there. we havma homes with just kids and kids taking care of their fellow kids, like they're parenting at a young age. and that has a lot of, like, has

affected that area economically. there's a lot of poverty, a cycle of poverty that cannot be broken if something is not done. >> we have a lot more to talk about, including how you can be a part of the solution in helping stop the hiv/aids crisis in africa. stay with us. we'll be right back.

♪ >> welcome back. we're talking about the progress this country has made with the aids crisis, especially concerning children. but it is a big problem in other countries, including africa. our guests are dr. geri delarosa with sunburst projects and david ooko. you and i met through camp sunburst, through children with aids. >> that's right. >> how -- i saw the difference in those kids. what did you see as one who ran those program here in the bay area for so long? >> well, i know that when we first began, and you probably know this, too, cheryl, that stigma was really a huge issue,

and because of that, there was a lack of community support around children and women and families in particular. and so the camp, what it did was it created a safe place where people could actually be with each other and know they were going through the same situation and feel a sense of support and not be so fearful. oftentimes, in those years, people couldn't tell their neighbors, even, that they were infected, and what we see in kenya is the very same situation today, which is 30 years later. >> so it's just like it's done here, but it started anew over there. >> right, well, i think it's always been there, but now that lpere's medications in kenya, ing s thost tt lo that they're positive and go somewhere to get the medications.

so a lot of the work in kenya that dan and will be doing is around dispelling the stigma around hiv and aids and empowering the children to be able to have a voice around what it is that they're going through in their lives. and so it's -- his program that he wants to create through the school is very much in line with what we did at camp sunburst early on. and it's a family model, so it's to support the system, to support the unit of the family -- not just the children, but the parents or the guardians in the case of the families in the village where the children are living. to support the grandparents -- there are many elders that take care of these kids and bring these kids into their homes. >> and dan, before we run out of time, i would like to hear your thoughts, to people in the american audience, as to how they can help you. what would you like to see? what do you want them to know? >> hm. i would probably tell them something that they know.

any situation anywhere in the world is the world problem, and that the same situation that we are experiencing in kenya right now is something that was here, like geri quoted 30 years ago, so they would understand the need for support, and that we look forward to speak into their hearts and see that we are fellow human beings just like them, that the world has also become a global village, and that's why i'm here. so my -- where i'm coming from, we are a third-world country, and so, like, there's a lot of people are largely poor. doesn't mean that they can't do anything, but they can give in different ways. and so, we also hope that any support they can get from

friends, people who believe in changing the world and looking at the world as one place and looking at human beings as one family of humanity, can see the need to come and support this initiative. >> all right. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you both for being here and talking about this, the work you're doing. >> thank you. >> thank you, cheryl. >> we want to thank all of our guests for the life-saving work they're doing. and we have more information to share with you. just go to our website, abc7news.com/community. we're also on facebook at abc7communityaffairs, as well as cheryljenningsabc7. and follow me on twitter, @cherylabc7. thanks so much for joining us. we'll see you ne tim ♪ ♪

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