Bill Clinton urges transparency in AIDS funding

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Friday said donors will continue to fund the response to the world AIDS crisis despite global financial woes and urged greater transparency by all involved.

Clinton, who works to provide low-cost HIV medications to foreign nations through his Clinton Foundation, spoke at the closing ceremony of the 19th International AIDS Conference in the US capital.

“If we all keep producing results I believe the money will be there. And I am committed to doing whatever I can to see that it does. We do have to prove over and over again that we are making the most of the money,” he said.

Clinton highlighted the $16.8 billion spent worldwide last year on the three-decade-old pandemic, remarking that for the first time funding by individual nations exceeded foreign assistance.

He also noted progress in bringing down the cost of treating people with HIV worldwide, which was about $1,000 per year per person in 2003 according to UNAIDS but is now about $200 per person annually.

But he also called for changes to the system, saying that money could be spent more effectively and should not be influenced by political interests.

“We can target the money we are spending more effectively,” Clinton told the gathering of 24,000 scientists, advocates and policy makers.


UNAIDS said earlier this month that global spending on AIDS rose 11% from 2010 to 2011, helping another 1.4 million poor people on AIDS drugs, bringing the tally to a record of more than eight million, or 54% of those in need.

But there was a funding gap of $7 billion, half of it in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 69% of the 34 million people living with HIV.