August 14, 2006
New York, NY

By Bill Clinton
For CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen

This week in Toronto, the global community will find itself poised before a remarkable opportunity. Tens of thousands of policy makers, non-governmental organization leaders, scientists, health-care workers, people living with HIV/AIDS and concerned citizens will assemble with the opportunity to share successes, to commit to ensuring that best practices are replicated and expanded, and to refocus efforts in the many areas where we need to do much more.

Four years ago in Barcelona, Nelson Mandela and I closed the 14th International AIDS Conference. Back then, some 36 million people were living with the virus, but outside of Brazil and Thailand which both have strong treatment programs - only 70,000 people in the developing world were receiving life-saving antiretroviral medicines. Twenty-five million people had already died of a disease that is not only treatable, but 100 per cent preventable.

In Barcelona, I personally pledged to help expand access to care and treatment. Thus began the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Working with generic pharmaceutical companies, my foundation negotiated agreements that reduced the cost of first-line ARV medicines by more than 50 per cent, to less than $140 per patient per year. Shortly thereafter, we announced price reductions of up to 80 per cent on critical diagnostic technologies. Today, nearly 60 countries have access to our reduced prices for medicines and diagnostic tests, and more than 400,000 people over a quarter of those on treatment in the developing world are receiving ARVs purchased under our agreements.

My foundation's HIV/AIDS initiative has grown to some 500 employees and volunteers in 25 countries, and we have partnered directly with governments to help them develop the infrastructure and organizational systems needed to deliver care and treatment to those in need.

It is particularly fitting that the 16th World AIDS Conference is taking place in Toronto. There is no better ambassador of Canada's values than the United Nations' Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, who has lent an impassioned, eloquent voice on behalf of millions suffering the effects of the disease.

The task before us is no less daunting today than it was four years ago, but amid the suffering there exists reason to hope that we can look toward a world without AIDS.

On my last trip to Africa a few weeks ago, I visited seven countries where my foundation works and had the opportunity to see what is working and what needs to be done to address the epidemic. If there is one thing I hope will emerge as a message to the world this week, it is that while the challenges are staggering, progress is being made and we know what needs to happen to beat this disease.

By the close of this week, we will emerge once again with the opportunity to act upon this hard-earned knowledge. We must continue to focus on those who are most underserved, particularly children and those living in rural areas, where the impact of the disease is often most acute and access to health-care services least available.

Last year, my foundation cut the cost of pediatric medicines in half and donated medicines and program support to double the number of children on treatment in the developing world outside of Brazil and Thailand. And through our partnership with Dr. Paul Farmer's amazing group, Partners In Health, we are pioneering innovative and affordable mechanisms of delivering comprehensive health-care services to those in the most overlooked, hard-to-reach locations. The world knows HIV/AIDS care and treatment can be delivered anywhere in the world, and the time has come to do the job and to turn our attention to ensuring people have access to clean water with which to take the medications, and enough food to make sure the medicines are effective.

Today, just over 1.3 million people are receiving treatment for AIDS. In the coming years, tens of millions of people will need antiretroviral medicines to stay alive, and we need to focus on creating and sustaining funding mechanisms to support this treatment. I salute the efforts of France, Brazil, Chile and Norway for their innovation in the creation of a fund to focus on the procurement of second-line and pediatric medicines. We must use this money frugally and effectively. We need to continue efforts to empower women, who bear the disproportionate brunt of the disease. We need to redouble prevention efforts and place greater emphasis on inventive, culturally specific strategies to prevent the alarming growth in the number of new infections.

Perhaps most of all, we must take the opportunity to learn from the people doing the hard work in these ravaged countries - the health-care workers, volunteers and people living with HIV/AIDS who deserve the greatest credit. One of the most important things we can do in Toronto will be to listen to them, to learn from them, and to figure out how we can best support and enable them. The challenges we face are diverse, but the knowledge and passion needed to meet these challenges will be on full display in Toronto.

I turn 60 this month, and during my life I have had the opportunity to know many intelligent, admirable people, both humble and renowned, in many corners of the world. I have learned that, across the globe, intelligence and drive are evenly distributed, but opportunity and the systems needed to implement change and reward effort are not. Our collective response to this pandemic our ability to share this knowledge and replicate the required systems will define us for generations to come.

We have made progress in the fight, but scores of people are dying needless deaths every day and the epidemic poses a graver threat than ever to the integrity, prosperity and security of our global community. The fight against HIV/AIDS has afforded us the opportunity to ensure that life, the most basic of opportunities, is available to all.