Former President Clinton Urges President Bush to Come Up with $2.4 Billion Annually to Fight AIDS

At an AIDS gala that drew both celebrities and protesters, former President Bill Clinton urged the Bush administration to come up with $2.4 billion annually to fight the disease around the world. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called AIDS "the worst epidemic that mankind has ever faced," while rock star Michael Stipe and CBS News anchor Dan Rather lamented that more than 8,000 people around the world die of AIDS each day.

The presentation of the 2002 awards for business excellence by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS brought more than 500 people from the art, business and diplomatic worlds to New York's Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River -- along with two dozen AIDS protesters, several of whom arrived by boat. Other VIPs at the dinner included basketball star Dikembe Mutombo and musicians Wyclef Jean and Lionel Richie. Clinton presented the award for individual business leadership to William H. Roedy, president of MTV Networks International, which has aired commercials on AIDS. Annan presented the award for business excellence in the workplace to DaimlerChrysler AG for its South African HIV/AIDS program, which includes access to AIDS drugs.

The protesters from ACT UP and Health GAP were demonstrating against Coca-Cola, one of the 75 international companies that have joined the Business Coalition. They claim the company only provides HIV/AIDS health care coverage to the 1,500 people it employs directly in Africa -- not to the 100,000 people who bottle and distribute Coke products under licensing agreements.

Annan has called for $10 billion annually to reverse the AIDS epidemic by 2015. Clinton said the US share should be $2.4 billion. The United States has earmarked $500 million for the fund. Citing estimates that the world's HIV cases are on the verge of increasing from 40 million to 100 million, Clinton said AIDS "will slice through India like a hot knife through butter."

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