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Former
US President Bill Clinton is urging the world to do more to fight AIDS,
cautioning that without action from governments, business and individuals,
the number of people living with HIV will more than double by 2005, to
100 million.
Speaking in London 13 December at the annual Diana, Princess of Wales,
Memorial Lecture on AIDS, Clinton specifically urged the governments of
industrialized countries to provide financial incentives to encourage private companies to step
up efforts to develop vaccines to prevent AIDS: "If we want them to participate
in finding a vaccine we will have to give them financial incentives to
do so."
After his speech, Clinton added his signature to the Global Call for Action
for AIDS Vaccines. This petition urges world leaders to ensure the development
of safe and effective AIDS vaccines and guarantee that these vaccines
will be available to all who need them. To date, more than 100,000 people
from 145 countries have signed the Call. Signatures are being collected
online by IAVI, at http://www.iavi.org/callforaction/.
The Diana AIDS lecture was sponsored by IAVI partner National AIDS Trust.
As US president, Clinton was one of the first world leaders to speak out
about the AIDS epidemic, particularly the toll it is taking on Africa
and other developing areas and the need for a preventive vaccine. In 1997,
Clinton challenged the world to find an AIDS vaccine by 2007. Each year
since, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition has released a report charting
global progress toward Clinton's goal.
Clinton is currently serving as Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the
International AIDS Trust. The Trust is working "to tap the genius
people have for fighting AIDS at the grassroots level wherever we find
it and then to spread it.
"This is not rocket science. It is a matter of money, organisation and
will."
This page is copied
from http://www.iavi.org/highlights/114/n20011221.asp
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