Clinton Foundation pledges $10 million for HIV treatment

Former president Bill Clinton announced Monday that his foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative will deliver antiretroviral treatment to 10,000 children in about 10 countries by the end of the year. This would nearly double the number of children on antiretroviral therapy in the developing world outside Brazil and Thailand, the Foundation said. Clinton also said in a statement that later this year his foundation will expand its HIV/AIDS program in Rwanda to other rural African areas in Mozambique and Tanzania. The former president said his foundation was contributing about $10 million for the pediatric and rural programs, and was working with UNICEF and other organizations to expand the program to reach more than 60,000 children by the end of 2006. "One in every six AIDS deaths each year is a child," Clinton said in a prepared statement. "Yet children represent less than one of every 30 persons getting treatment in developing countries today. These children need hope, and we know what must be done. The global community has the means to save many lives, and we must meet that responsibility as quickly as we can." Clinton said about 15,000 to 25,000 children are currently receiving ART treatment, nearly half of them in Brazil and Thailand. Under the new initiative, the pediatric medicine will reach China, the Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, and Tanzania this spring. The Clinton Foundation partners with more than a dozen countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia. Working with individual governments, the foundation provides technical assistance and mobilizes human and financial resources. It also provides access to prices for anti-HIV drugs and diagnostics that are 50% to 90% lower than market rates. Approximately 40 countries are currently purchasing medicines and tests under the Clinton Foundation's agreements. (AP)