Clinton Foundation Seeks to Treat 2 Million AIDS Patients by 2008

An adviser to Bill Clinton announced Thursday that the former president's foundation aims to treat 2 million HIV/AIDS patients worldwide by 2008. "We can't turn our backs on all these people and let them die," Ira Magaziner, director of the foundation's HIV/AIDS initiative, said in a speech at Clinton's school of public service in Little Rock, Ark.

"It's scaling up very quickly. We went from zero to about 250,000 [patients on medications] in a year and a half," Magaziner said.

The Clinton foundation works with local governments to provide technical assistance and mobilize resources. The foundation has negotiated agreements for low-price drugs with 52 countries and is able to provide access to medications and diagnostic tests at 50-90 percent below market prices.

Magaziner noted that funding for AIDS increased during Clinton's terms in the White House. While Magaziner said he disagrees with some of President George W. Bush's approaches to AIDS, including an emphasis on abstinence instead of condoms, he acknowledged that Bush is accomplishing much in the fight against the epidemic.

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