President Clinton's Travel Diary on Visting India

[Guest guest]

President Clinton's Travel Diary on Visting India

New Delhi, India, Diary Entry: February 18th,February 21st

My HIV/AIDS Initiative has substantially reduced the prices nations

participating in our procurement consortium pay for life-saving

antiretroviral (ARV) treatments, but that's only the first step

toward controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. We also have to

work on training health care professionals to cope with the

pandemic.

Today I visited New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences,

where I talked to people living with HIV/AIDS and the health

professionals who give them the care they need. While there, I

announced a program through a partnership between my Foundation and

the National AIDS Control Organization, to train thousands of nurses

in AIDS care and treatment.

Nurses play a vital role in the global struggle against HIV/AIDS.

They deliver critical care, provide counseling about AIDS

prevention, and help reduce the stigma and discrimination that many

people living with the virus struggle to overcome.

After the announcement I visited with patients at the All India

Institute. As always, when I visit with patients, I was moved by

their spirit, their optimism, and their courage and I was heartened

by the fact that AIDS treatment drugs are keeping them alive.

This is why our work is so important. I don't want to see anyone die

before their time, and these people deserve a chance to live full,

happy lives.

________________________________________

February 18, 2006

Goa, India Diary Entry: February 19th

February 21st

Last night I flew to Goa, India. A former Portuguese colony on the

Arabian Sea, Goa is beautiful city flush with beaches and lush

tropical forests. I'm here to tour a factory run by Cipla, an

important partner in my Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative's work, and

we had a great tour this morning and I saw a lot of what is really a

world-class facility.

Three years ago, we teamed up with Cipla and other drug makers to

provide AIDS medication at affordable prices to people in the

developing world. Today, because of partners like Cipla, we are able

to provide life-saving antiretroviral drugs at prices reduced by 50

to 90 percent to people living with HIV/AIDS.

When Cipla and my Foundation first started working together, only 70,000 people

in the developing world (outside of Brazil and Thailand) were receiving these

life-saving treatments. Now more than one million people take antiretroviral

medication in developing countries, including over a quarter

of a million people who get them under my Foundation's agreements.

The AIDS medications produced at the Cipla factories provide hope

for the 5.1 million people living in India with the virus -- but

this is only the first step. When people start on antiretroviral

medication, they're making a lifetime commitment. For long-term

treatment to remain effective, many patients must eventually move

from cheaper first-line antiretroviral drugs to much more costly

second-line combinations. We have made progress in cutting the

prices of these medications, but we still have a long way to go

before they are available to all of those who need them.

Sadly, despite all of our progress getting medication to those who

need it, more remains to be done both throughout the developing

world and especially right here in India. The UNAIDS predicts that

between 2015 and 2050, nearly 50 million Indians will die of AIDS.

Those are frightening numbers, but there is hope. Strong prevention

and treatment programs can halt the spread of the pandemic here.

That's why my Foundation signed an agreement with the Indian

government to work together in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

It won't be easy to overcome the challenges posed by the virus in

India, but we can't afford to fail. With the help of companies like

Cipla and proactive governments like India's, I'm confident that we

will succeed.

I'm headed to Delhi this evening to announce a nurse training

program with the Indian government and to visit with some AIDS

patients, so keep an eye out for my next post.

Source: <enewsletter@...>