FIGHT AGAINST AIDS | Agreement calls for more medicine for children
Clinton, Vietnam reach a deal
The government estimates that 260,000 were infected last year.
By BEN STOCKING
The Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam | Former President Clinton signed an agreement between his
foundation and the Vietnamese to get more AIDS drugs to children.
Under the agreement, the Clinton Foundation will increase the amount of
pediatric drugs it is providing to Vietnamese children living with HIV and
AIDS. The foundation provided medicine for 400 children in 2006 but plans
to triple the number of children it is helping by the end of 2007.
After he and Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien signed the pediatric
AIDS agreement, Clinton took part in a discussion about AIDS with several
university students and a young woman living with HIV.
The Vietnamese government estimates that 260,000 Vietnamese people were
infected with HIV last year, but public health experts think the actual
number is higher. In Vietnam, most infections are linked to intravenous
drug use and unprotected sex for money.
The Clinton Foundation's activities are being financed by Unitaid, an
organization formed by France and 19 other nations that have earmarked a
small portion of their airline tax revenues for HIV/AIDS programs in
developing countries.
The foundation provided medicine for 400 children in 2006, but plans to
triple the number of children it is helping by the end of 2007.
The United States normalized relations with its former foe under Clinton,
who was greeted by adoring crowds when in 2000 he became the first U.S.
president to visit Vietnam since the war ended in 1975.
He found more adoring crowds on his second visit.
Followed by Secret Service agents and Vietnamese police, Clinton stopped
along a half-mile route to chat with his Vietnamese admirers before making
his way to an art gallery in Hanoi's Old Quarter and then to the tomb of
Ho Chi Minh, who led Vietnam's communist revolution.
"It feels great to be back," Clinton said as he set off for his stroll.
The feeling among most Vietnamese was mutual.
"There are no words to describe how happy I am," squealed 17-year-old
Nguyen Thu Hang, jumping up and down and clutching Clinton's freshly
signed autograph. "I'm going to frame this and hang it on my bedroom
wall!"
Outside of official meetings, the president's touring included a visit to
Vietnam's stock exchange, where he struck a gong to open a day of trading.
He then met with a group of Vietnamese and American businessmen.
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