By Robin Jay, BHC Editorial Director

To view the video webcast of the World AIDS Day discussion with President Bill Clinton, click on the image below.

Great progress has been achieved in research related to the prevention and treatment of AIDS over the last decade, yet the overriding news at this year’s World AIDS Day 2009 held a somber message: Someone every nine minutes in the United States becomes infected with HIV – more than 55,000 people annually. And according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, the global infection rate is twice the rate of people receiving treatment for the devastating disease.

To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, President Bill Clinton spoke among a panel of presenters on the topic of “Awareness, Access, Action: The Global and Domestic State of AIDS.” President Clinton, who founded the William J. Clinton Foundation, co-hosted the event with the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Clinton says he’s made it a mission to fight AIDS worldwide.

“World AIDS Day has always been a personal and emotional day for me,” says President Clinton. “Hillary and I have lost several friends and loved ones to AIDS over the years. After I was elected President, we made unprecedented investments in prevention and treatment. We made research and awareness a priority. And by the time I left the White House, stigma was fading, more people were getting tested, antiretrovirals were in mass production, and nearly everyone in America had access to lifesaving medicines.

“Today, I am hosting a panel discussion at Columbia University. In keeping with the theme of World AIDS Day 2009 "Universal Access and Human Rights," we’ll discuss what access means today - education and awareness, prevention and testing, and medicines and health care - and what businesses, governments, and civil society can do to help.

After leaving the White House, President Clinton founded the William J. Clinton Foundation, through which he continued his global fight against AIDS. President Clinton says he knew his greatest impact would be to make lifesaving antiretroviral medications affordable for developing countries plagued by the spread of HIV. “We brought the prices down and now more than 70 countries are able to access medications at our prices to help more than 2 million men, women and children.

“In 2010, no one, no matter where they live or how much money they have, should lose a loved one to this terrible, but preventable and treatable disease,” says President Clinton.
To listen to President Clinton’s full address – and hear what the distinguished panel of experts had to say regarding AIDS education and awareness, prevention, testing, health care and medicines, as well as their calls-to-action regarding what Americans, businesses and governments can do to help in this global mission, click here or on the image above.

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