Clinton checks on
progress of African AIDS projects

In Lesotho Monday former president Bill Clinton dedicated a pediatric AIDS clinic that was established with the help of his foundation to treat children infected with HIV. Clinton also reviewed progress made by the government in expanding access to HIV treatment.

The Lesotho government, with the help of the Clinton Foundation, launched a program last year that enrolled 5,000 patients across the African nation. The foundation is providing a supply of pediatric antiretroviral medicine as part of an initiative that seeks to increase the number of children being treated from less than 100 to about 750 by the end of the year. An estimated 22,000 children in Lesotho are infected with HIV.

"Lesotho is helping to prove that pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment is indeed possible in the developing world," Clinton said. "We are trying all we can to help. Every child has a right to life, to grow up, to have a healthy life, to dream their dreams, and to get educated." Clinton added that the government had done a remarkable job in a short term, but that its program needed more funding to provide universal treatment.

Clinton, on a six-nation tour in Africa to check on projects funded by his foundation in the battle against AIDS, visits South Africa next. (AP)