Former President Clinton, Japanese Prime Minister Agree More Should Be Done to Fight HIV/AIDS

Former President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday agreed that more should be done to combat HIV/AIDS, Kyodo News reports. Clinton, who arrived in Japan on Sunday to discuss his global anti-AIDS efforts, called for the Japanese government to assist in projects to provide HIV-positive people with lower cost antiretroviral medicines (Kyodo News, 11/18). At the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in September, Koizumi pledged $1 billion in new aid for education and health care in Africa, including funding for antiretroviral drugs. The money would be disbursed over the next five years, Koizumi said. Japan is the world's biggest donor to Africa and has provided $12 billion in assistance to the continent since the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development 10 years ago (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/30). Clinton on Friday will travel to India for a two-day trip highlighting efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Clinton is scheduled to meet with HIV/AIDS advocates in New Dehli and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/18). According to a study released earlier this month, the number of HIV-positive people in the India rose from 3.97 million in 2001 to 4.58 million in 2002 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/14).

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