'One in every six AIDS deaths each year is a child,' President Clinton said. 'Yet children represent less than one of every thirty persons getting treatment in developing countries today. These children need hope, and we know what must be done. The global community has the means to save many lives, and we must meet that responsibility as quickly as we can.'

President Clinton also announced that the Foundation will launch a new program to provide HIV/AIDS care to people living in rural Africa. The HIV/AIDS Initiative has begun this program by bringing Paul Farmer and Partners In Health (PIH) to rural Rwanda.

The Clinton Foundation says it will expand the rural program to Mozambique and Tanzania later this year and use these experiences to develop models of rural care that can be applied to many more countries.

Global Responsibility

“One in every six AIDS deaths each year is a child,” President Clinton said. “Yet children represent less than one of every thirty persons getting treatment in developing countries today. These children need hope, and we know what must be done. The global community has the means to save many lives, and we must meet that responsibility as quickly as we can,” he urged.

“Expanding AIDS treatment is an international priority; and as we pursue it, we must leave no one behind," President Clinton continued. "Access to care for children and people living in rural communities has been severely limited. Our efforts to accelerate access and treatment represent small but crucial steps in meeting a big global responsibility.”

$10 Million for Pediatric and Rural Programs

The Clinton Foundation will contribute approximately $10 million for the pediatric and rural programs, which will in turn leverage funding commitments by national governments and international donors.

Joining President Clinton for the announcement at the Harlem office of the Clinton Foundation today were Dr. Paul Farmer, Founding Director of Partners In Health; Ambassador Stanislas Kamanzi, Permanent Representative of Rwanda to the United Nations; Stephen Lewis, United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; and Peter McDermott, Chief of HIV/AIDS at UNICEF. The Clinton Foundation is partnering with local governments, the United Nations and international NGOs to carry out its pediatric and rural programs.

“While there has been impressive progress in treating HIV/AIDS in adults, infected children have not seen the benefits," said Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF. "This initiative is a great first step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done. Children should never be last on the list to get this kind of treatment -- they should be among the first,” Bellamy emphasized.

“To be invited by the government of Rwanda, and to be working alongside the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative, on behalf the rural poor is one of the greatest privileges that we have known in over two decades of fighting poverty and disease,” said Paul Farmer, speaking about the rural program.

Not a Moment to Spare

"Your Foundation is doing laudable work in the fight against HIV/AIDS -- in particular, your programs that target the rural poor such as the one we have with Paul Farmer's Partners In Health," Rwandan President Paul Kagame says in a letter to President Clinton.

“The speed with which the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative identifies areas of need and then responds with decisive action -- as it is doing now to reach children and the rural poor -- is unprecedented,” said Stephen Lewis. “There is not a moment to spare in the global disaster that is HIV/AIDS, and the foundation’s pace reflects the urgency with which we must all respond to this crisis.”

Help for 10,000 in 2005

The Clinton Foundation plans to donate drugs and provide technical assistance to at least ten countries to reach a minimum of 10,000 children with AIDS by the end of 2005. It says it will work with UNICEF and others to substantially expand that figure as soon as possible, to more than 60,000 by the end of 2006.

Today, 15,000 to 25,000 children are on treatment, with nearly one-half of that total in Brazil and Thailand, the Foundation notes.

The Foundation has partnered with Cipla, a drug manufacturer based in India, to lower the prices of pediatric medicines. The Foundation will offer these prices to others who purchase through this program. The first order for medicine has been placed and will reach China, the Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda and Tanzania this spring. In May, children in China will begin to receive treatment as a result of this program.

Models of HIV/AIDS Care

The rural program will begin in Rwanda and be expanded to Mozambique and Tanzania, in hopes of establishing models of HIV/AIDS care and treatment in rural communities that can be exported to other developing nations.

In Rwanda, the Clinton Foundation has brought Partners In Health to the Kibungo province to expand HIV/AIDS care and community health services to one of the poorest and most rural parts of the country.