Bill Clinton in India to sign MoU on AIDS medication

[Guest guest]

Bill heads to Delhi, for AIDS & Atal

BHARAT BHUSHAN

New Delhi, Nov. 17: Former US President Bill Clinton is visiting

India for two days from November 21. Clinton, who will fly in from

Hong Kong on a private aircraft, will meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee on arrival.

Clinton was supposed to come to India in connection with the work of

the J. Clinton Presidential Foundation in the field of the

battle against AIDS and in his capacity as a member of the American

Indian Foundation which has been working with earthquake victims in

Gujarat.

Clinton had apparently said that he would come to India only if he

could meet Prime Minister Vajpayee. The Indian Prime Minister then

decided not only to meet him but also host a lunch for the former US

President. The lunch is to be hosted on November 21. Clinton may also

make a flying visit to Gujarat to see the work of the American Indian

Foundation among earthquake victims on the issues of health, water

and sanitation, reconstruction of schools and clinics.

While in Delhi, Clinton is expected to push forward his initiative to

slash the cost of HIV/ AIDS drugs. He is to sign a memorandum of

understanding on behalf of his foundation with three Indian drug

companies — CIPLA, Ranbaxy and Matrix Laboratories — on bringing down

the cost of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. Ranbaxy holds a 15 per cent

share in the anti-retroviral drug segment in India.

A deal has been brokered by the former US President between the three

Indian pharmaceutical companies and South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare

Holdings which would allow three million patients in Africa and the

Caribbean to obtain anti-retroviral drugs at an affordable rate by

2005.

Known as the three-by-five initiative (three million patients by

2005), Clinton's initiative is aimed at bringing the cost of these

AIDS drugs to about 38 cents per day from $1.54 for patented drugs

and 55 cents for generic drugs. In India itself, there are an

estimated 3.97 million HIV-positive people — the highest after South

Africa. Given the prohibitive cost of anti-retroviral drugs, at

present only about 300,000 people in the developing world are

receiving these drugs.

The former US President has made the battle against HIV/ AIDS a focal

point of his foundation's activities. His argument has been that

unless the pandemic is combated in the developing world, where 42

million people are infected with the disease, precious lives could be

lost and it would be impossible for these countries to achieve social

and economic development goals.

According to the estimates of the Clinton foundation, there are

between five to six million people with AIDS worldwide who

desperately need treatment. This number is likely to go up with more

than 40 million people who are infected with HIV. It has also been

estimated that of the four million AIDS victims in sub-Saharan

Africa, only 50,000 are receiving anti-retroviral drugs.

Clinton has acted on his commitment by establishing the Clinton

Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and by serving as co-Chair of the

International Aids Trustwith Mandela. They have been

working to raise global commitment to combat the dreaded disease.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1031118/asp/nation/story_2584283.asp