Brazil signs
agreement with Clinton Foundation to fight AIDS

Brazilian health minister Saraiva Felipe and Ira Magaziner of the Clinton Foundation last week signed a memorandum of understanding that will help Brazil obtain anti-HIV drugs more cheaply. Under the agreement, the Clinton Foundation will provide Brazil with technical support to help it obtain the raw materials needed to produce antiretroviral drugs at lower cost. In addition, the agreement will help Brazil purchase tests necessary to diagnose and monitor the progress of HIV.

Brazil provides free anti-HIV drugs for all who need them--currently some 160,000 patients. Its effort is viewed as a model for the developing world. But the nation's health ministry reports that anti-HIV drugs account for about 25% of Brazil's budget for medicines. Recently, Brazil threatened to break patents on some of the more expensive medicines in an effort to secure discounts from drugmakers.

The Clinton Foundation's AIDS initiative has been helping nations access HIV prevention, treatment, and care since 2002 and now has partnerships with more than a dozen countries. (AP)