SYDNEY (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and
Australia announced plans on Wednesday to combat AIDS in China,
Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, warning that 40 percent of all new
infections could be in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010.
Australia, through its main aid arm AusAID, and the Clinton Foundation
signed a memorandum of understanding under which Australia would
contribute A$25 million ($18.5 million) over the next four years.
The money would be supplemented by an undisclosed amount from
Clinton's foundation and would be used to make anti-retroviral
drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS more readily available and
to improve testing and monitoring systems in the three countries.
Clinton said the partnership would focus in part on providing
treatment for children infected with the disease in Vietnam and
Papua New Guinea.
He said about 500,000 children died of AIDS around the world
in 2005.
"The idea that these children are dying like flies and people
like us, with the money we have, are walking away from them and
not keeping them alive is inexcusable,'' Clinton told a business
forum in Sydney.
Clinton's foundation has recently announced HIV/AIDS programmes
in India, the second-worst affected nation after South Africa,
as well as with nine drug companies to help cut the cost of testing
and treatment in 50 developing countries.
"There is clearly a moral imperative to do something about
this,'' Clinton said.
"There are places in Africa, and indeed there are villages
in rural China, where there are no young adults left,'' he said.
About 25,000 people died from AIDS in China in 2005. Last month,
Beijing lowered its estimate of the number of people living with
HIV/AIDS by about 30 percent to 650,000, although AusAID and UNAIDS
estimates put the number at 800,000.
Vietnam, China and Indonesia face the fastest-growing HIV epidemic
in the world.
Papua New Guinea, to Australia's north, faces an epidemic
of similar proportions. Experts say that, with an annual infection
rate increasing by 33 percent a year, the country is on the verge
of an African-style disaster that could kill millions and destroy
the economy.
"It has the potential to be a national catastrophe ...
for Papua New Guinea,'' Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer told a news conference.
|
