Press Release: President Clinton Says We Have the Knowledge, but Need More Action in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Clinton Announces New “Consortium for Strategic HIV Operations Research” to Encourage Efficient Use of Resources in AIDS Treatment and Prevention.
President Clinton addressed the 16th Annual International AIDS Conference today, telling activists and experts that while the global community has made strides in fighting the disease, the knowledge needed to stop the AIDS pandemic already exists and must be used to save more lives. He also announced a new Consortium for Strategic HIV Operations Research (CSHOR), a program that uses open-source computer models and the same efficiency methods employed by Fortune 500 companies to help governments in the developing world save more lives using the same resources they currently have.
“We know how to stop AIDS,” said President Clinton. “We have the knowledge to prevent tens of millions of needless deaths. We know it can be done with urgent, sustained, and strategic action. We’ve done well, but we can and must do better.”
President Clinton emphasized a comprehensive approach in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, starting with ensuring that there are sufficient funds to prevent new infections and provide treatment to all those in need. He noted that the Global Fund is a critical mechanism that needs more resources, and that those resources must be used efficiently. CSHOR, a new program of the Clinton Foundation, will assist governments in low- and middle-income countries to accelerate implementation of high-quality HIV care and treatment in the most efficient and effective way possible. CSHOR’s approach is to work collaboratively with clinical partners and governments to gather data on the best available models of HIV treatment delivery and to use that information to guide policy making and HIV treatment operations.
With over 4 million new infections last year and alarming trends in regions around the globe, President Clinton also called on the international community to intensify and redouble prevention efforts. The Clinton Foundation has partnered with the International Partnership for Microbicides to help accelerate their work, and President Clinton called on the international community to support the important work of the International AIDS Vaccine Institute, and other important research into preventive measures and technologies essential to arresting the spread of HIV.
However, President Clinton noted that an estimated 90 percent of those infected with the virus do not know they are HIV positive, and there is an urgent need to increase testing throughout the world. To that end, the Clinton Foundation has worked with governments in the developing world to reduce the cost of testing. Rapid tests are now available through the Foundation’s Procurement Consortium at $0.50 to $0.65 each. In emphasizing the importance of testing, President Clinton told the story of a remarkable woman who works as an “expert patient” for his Foundation in Lesotho. She became infected after she was raped, and turned her personal tragedy into a powerful opportunity to talk to others about the need to know their HIV status so they can help save lives.
President Clinton also spoke of the need to expand treatment to those who were previously out of reach: children, those living in rural areas, and marginalized populations.
“A couple of years ago, there were only 10,000 children outside of Brazil and Thailand on treatment, while over 500,000 were dying,” President Clinton said. “We failed miserably then, but it is now feasible to treat children and we must. Through my Foundation, along with international partners, we have made some progress, but there are still hundreds of thousands of children who need our help.”
To save the lives of more children and help those who are not yet receiving treatment, President Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) strives to make treatment more affordable, and to implement large-scale integrated care, treatment, and prevention programs. Since its inception, more than 415,000 people have received drugs and/or diagnostic equipment at the Clinton Foundation’s reduced prices. The Clinton Foundation provides access to reduced prices for HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostics to a total of 58 countries. Individual governments take the lead and the CHAI provides technical assistance, mobilizes human and financial resources, and facilitates the sharing of best practices across projects. CHAI's newest initiative is focused on increasing access to treatment for pediatric patients and those living in rural areas.
To effectively widen the reach of prevention and treatment initiatives world-wide, President Clinton called for increased support of national governments and those working on the ground. One area of concern, he noted, is that Africa and Asia continue to export healthcare workers who could be instrumental in helping national governments combat the AIDS crisis. The Clinton Foundation is working to reverse this trend with its partner countries, including Kenya, where the Foundation is working to hire some 1,000 nurses who will be trained to treat AIDS patients, and then transitioned to employment within Kenya’s healthcare system over the next two years.
“We can break the back of this epidemic,” President Clinton said. “How fortunate we are to live in a time when we have the opportunity to meet our obligation to help those in need. We can give many people back their lives and their dreams.”
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