Clinton Foundation to aid China with AIDS
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-30 09:35

The Chinese government hired Bill Clinton's private foundation Thursday to deliver treatment and care for HIV-AIDS patients in China, the foundation announced.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton met with a Chinese AIDS patient Song Pengfei (right) during his visit to the Tsinghua University for a summit on HIV-AIDS in China last November. [newsphoto/file]

The William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation's HIV-AIDS Initiative will also help China develop better systems of care for the disease.

"I congratulate China for undertaking this aggressive and timely effort to address the AIDS epidemic," Clinton said in a news release. The former president has made treatment of AIDS around the world a central aim of his post-presidency.

Clinton spoke at the Tsinghua University Summit on HIV-AIDS in China last November. His foundation works to buy equipment, train medical personnel and funnel medicine into 18 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Ira Magaziner, chairman of the foundation's Boston-based HIV-AIDS arm, signed an agreement Thursday with Chinese Vice Minister of Health Wang Longde in Beijing, the foundation said.