Gere fears AIDS epidemic hitting India

February 27, 2006

Monday, February 27, 2006, agencies

NEW YORK: As President Bush prepares to travel to India this week; actor

Gere is applauding the leader's focus on the AIDS crisis there.

Gere may not agree with Bush on everything, but he " certainly can praise him "

for mentioning HIV/AIDS in the " same breath " as terrorism, the actor and

activist said to an international media organization.

Bush has said he hopes to address the AIDS crisis with Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh. " India is a country that I care about deeply. We're talking

about a population in India that is close to a billion people. If this crisis

hits them to the degree it's expected to, we've lost Asia, " Gere added.

He hopes to use his celebrity to bring attention to the crisis. " What I felt

that I could bring to this that maybe someone else couldn't was the ability to

talk to people at a high level in government, in business and in my own

community of actors, " he said.

Collaboratively and in Solidarity

Jagdish Harsh

jharsh@...

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