Hundreds march in New York against AIDS

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Hundreds of demonstrators marched two miles in the rain in New York City on Saturday to call for more action and more money in the global fight against AIDS.

"We have the technologies and we know how to stop the dying," Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance told a cheering crowd, according to Reuters.

"We want treatment for people infected with HIV now. We are saying now, and we won't stand for anything less," she said.

Saturday's marchers aimed their messages to the United Nations, which will hold a Special Session on HIV/AIDS, beginning Monday. The three-day conference aims to spur the worldwide response to a disease that has killed nearly 22 million people, according to UNAIDS.

ALSO AIDS conferees grapple with describing sex

Speakers -- from the United States, South Africa and Thailand -- called on rich countries to forgive developing countries' debts so those countries could put more resources toward fighting AIDS.

They also called on developed countries to alleviate the AIDS pandemic by donating more money to an AIDS fund created by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that would fund treatment and prevention efforts.

IN DEPTH AIDS: 20 years of an epidemic

The speakers said that, though AIDS is having a more severe effect in Africa, its economic impact will be global as more people die, leaving fewer workers and consumers.

Police estimated the crowd at 1,300, but organizers said as many as 2,500 people participated. The march began at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and moved north 40 blocks to Bryant Park.

CNN Correspondent Brian Palmer contributed to this report