Dear MINGYU:

https://www.kintera.com/accounttempfiles/account11837/images/enews_dec_main5.jpgFor the past week, I have been traveling in Asia and the Pacific to assess the work of my Foundation in the global struggle against AIDS, to enlist new government partners in this important work, and to review the progress we have made in the two years I have served as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

The day before World AIDS Day, I visited a hospital in New Delhi with my friends Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress, and Philippe Douste-Blazy, France's Foreign Minister, to announce a major reduction in the price of life-saving pediatric antiretroviral (ARV) treatments.  They had been so expensive that only one in ten children in the developing world were getting the medicines they needed to survive.  My Foundation negotiated a new low price of less than $60 a year to treat a child with ARVs -- about 16 cents a day.  This new agreement will save countless lives.

This trip was also an opportunity to assess the progress made in the two years I have served as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, and I was pleased by what I saw.  In Banda Aceh -- one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami -- over 14,000 durable shelters, a new school, and many permanent homes have been constructed.  I was especially moved by my meeting with former Aceh Freedom Movement combatants, who signed a peace agreement with the Indonesian Government after the tsunami.  It was inspiring to see people set aside their differences and forge a peaceful future together in the wake of this tragedy.

After touring the tsunami-affected areas, I again focused on my Foundation's AIDS work.  All around the world, we're helping governments provide HIV/AIDS care and treatment, and we're making sure people get the life-saving medicines they need.  In Cambodia, we are helping to increase the number of children being treated from only 400 to almost 1,600.  Next year, we plan to help 3,000 HIV-positive Cambodian children get access to treatment, providing them with nearly universal HIV/AIDS care.  At the same time, my Foundation is working with the Cambodian Government to train health care workers and provide laboratory services to diagnose those with HIV/AIDS.

Next year, in Vietnam, the Clinton Foundation will work with the government and UNITAID - an innovative fund spearheaded by the French that will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding to treat those with AIDS -- to double the number of children currently receiving the medicines they need to stay alive.  By 2010, we hope to help Vietnam provide treatment for 90 percent of adults with HIV/AIDS and every Vietnamese child living with the disease.  Vietnam has a very young population, and during my visit I held a roundtable discussion with Vietnamese youth about AIDS prevention and how to combat the stigma and discrimination too often associated with the disease.  I was impressed by their energy and enthusiasm, and I'm confident that Vietnam will make major strides in the coming years.

On this trip, my HIV/AIDS Initiative signed agreements to provide life-saving medicines to children living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea, through my Foundation's partnership with UNITAID.  Under this partnership, by the end of 2007, just over a year from now, we hope to help 100,000 children around the world get the treatment they need.

Though we have come a long way already, we've got to redouble our efforts to ensure that all people, no matter where they live or how poor they are, have access to care, treatment, and prevention services.  It won't be easy, but I'm confident that with your support, we can win the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Sincerely,

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Bill Clinton