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Bill Clinton Warns AIDS Is 'Bigger Threat' Than Terrorism

One-Hundred Million People to be Living with AIDS in 2005

Compares Pandemic to the Bubonic Plague in the 14th century

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report

Clinton has used his global influence to press the issue of fighting the plague that is AIDS

London, England--Former President Bill Clinton told the British National AIDS Trust Thursday that the global AIDS epidemic represents a "bigger threat" to the world than international terrorism, the ^Guardian ~reports.

"There are now 40 million people living with AIDS. The number is projected to rise to 100 million by 2005. If that happens, it probably will be enough to crumble fledgling democracies," Clinton said in a memorial lecture in London honoring the late Princess Diana's commitment to fighting AIDS.

In an "uncompromising" speech, Clinton compared the AIDS pandemic to the bubonic plague in 14th century Europe, stating that nations must develop both prevention and treatment campaigns to address the problem of HIV/AIDS.

He praised Brazil for being "the only developing country to do both comprehensively" and for providing HIV-positive individuals with free antiretroviral medications (Boseley, ^Guardian, ~12/14). "Unless we deal aggressively with AIDS now it will make us all poorer and less secure," he said, adding, "It is up to us to mobilize."

Clinton also applauded the decision by South African pharmaceutical companies to drop a lawsuit against the government and allow the nation to manufacture and import less-expensive generic AIDS drugs, saying that the move has "opened the doors to cheaper and sometimes free" treatments for AIDS patients in South Africa (Lovell, ^Reuters,~ 12/13).

However, he added that Western nations, including the United States, must contribute more funds to help fight the AIDS epidemic. "This is not rocket science. It is about money, organization and will," he said. ^The Guardian~ reports that the United States has only donated a "few million dollars" to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but according to Clinton, the U.S. contribution ought to be more than $2 billion.

The fund, launched by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan this spring, has only raised $1.5 billion this year; Annan had hoped to raise $7 billion to $10 billion per year for the fund.

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"This is far cheaper than picking up the pieces of the shattered lands and shattered lives that we will live with if there are 100 million AIDS cases in 2005," Clinton said (^Guardian,~ 12/14).

This summary is from the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv) provided by http://www.kaisernetwork.org), a free health policy news summary and webcasting service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org by National Journal Group Inc. � 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved."