Million AIDS Victims Seen by Year 1991 : Princess Anne Opens Parley, Asking ‘Please Make This Work’

The first global AIDS summit opened today with a prediction that the number of people suffering from the deadly disease will reach 1 million in the next three years.

Also, Princess Anne urged an immediate war on AIDS and Britain helped set a tone of urgency by announcing an $8.1-million grant to developing countries to combat the disease.

Dr. Jonathan Mann, director of the World Health Organization’s Special Program on AIDS, told the 600 delegates “several hundred million people” may be vulnerable to AIDS because of their sexual behavior.

“Let us remember that we are still in the early phases of a global epidemic whose first decade gives us every rational reason for concern,” he said.

Using the conservative estimate that there are now 5 million carriers of the AIDS virus worldwide, Mann predicted “a cumulative total of 1 million AIDS cases would be expected by 1991.”

Health ministers from 122 countries and senior advisers from 28 others, including the United States, gathered for the three-day meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center, opposite Westminster Abbey.

Global Strategy Sought

The gathering aims to map a global strategy for combating AIDS, which has spread to at least 130 countries since it was identified in 1981. It is co-sponsored by WHO, a Geneva-based U.N. agency, and the British government.

Princess Anne told the delegates: “The global response to AIDS has been characterized by a series of delays.

“World summits are not quick or easy to organize and don’t always produce results. Please make this one work. Make this summit be the forerunner of the most genuine international cooperation ever seen.”

Health Secretary John Moore announced Britain’s $8.1-million contribution to its Overseas Aid Program, saying: “AIDS is no respecter of national boundaries, and we need a global response to contain it.”

About a dozen demonstrators gathered outside, holding candles and demanding that AIDS sufferers’ human rights be respected.

Ailment Described

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, destroys the body’s ability to fight disease, leaving victims vulnerable to a variety of infections and cancers. It is fatal and there is no vaccine or cure.

WHO had recorded 75,392 AIDS cases in 130 countries as of Jan. 12. But the agency estimates that the real worldwide total is twice that, or about 150,000, because many cases go unreported.

In addition, WHO estimates there are 5 million to 10 million carriers of the AIDS virus worldwide. It is not known how many of them eventually will develop the disease.