Clinton Foundation to Provide AIDS Drugs at No Cost to HIV-Positive Children, Launches AIDS Fellowship in China

The Clinton Foundation on Sunday announced it will provide antiretroviral drugs at no cost to HIV-positive children in China, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/11). Former President Clinton last week traveled to China to highlight the progress of foundation programs that aim to provide care and treatment to HIV-positive people in several provinces (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/9). The foundation has provided treatment for 200 HIV-positive children and plans to treat 2,000 more, according to Jessica Haberer, a Beijing-based research adviser for the Clinton Foundation. The foundation also is working with Chinese health authorities to obtain second-line antiretroviral drugs for adult patients who are resistant to first-line treatment (AFP/Yahoo! News, 9/11). The foundation also on Sunday launched an HIV/AIDS service fellowship, which aims to bridge the gap between treatment in rural areas of China and treatment in urban areas. The fellowship will provide one month of training in the U.S. for eight skilled urban doctors, who then will work for eight months in provinces with high HIV prevalence rates. In addition to treating HIV/AIDS patients, the doctors will train county-level physicians (Xinhuanet, 9/12).

Additional Coverage of Clinton's Work
Several newspapers recently have covered Clinton's post-presidential advocacy, including his HIV/AIDS work. Summaries of two of the articles appear below.

• "Global Persuader Determined to Be Seen to Be Making a Difference," Financial Times: Clinton "has thrown himself into the global struggle against HIV/AIDS using his formidable charm and range of contacts to negotiate cheap generic versions of antiretroviral drugs," according to the Times. At the first meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, which this week will gather world leaders to discuss global problems such as HIV/AIDS and poverty, Clinton will "make every effort" to increase the fight against HIV/AIDS (Beattie, Financial Times, 9/12).
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• "Bill Clinton: Savior of the World?" Independent: Clinton in an interview with the Independent praised Brazil's antiretroviral drug distribution program, calling it an "extraordinary" program that can "serve as an example to the world." He added, "No other country in the world has a project comparable to Brazil's" (Alcantara, Independent, 9/12).

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