Energy News  
Clinton and Gates in Lesotho to assess fight against HIV/AIDS

by Staff Writers
Maseru (AFP) Jul 12, 2006
Former US president Bill Clinton and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates made a whistle-stop visit to Lesotho on Wednesday to assess the poverty-stricken mountain kingdom's fight against AIDS.

Clinton and Gates, who have unofficially been named "the two Bills" by the media, visited the Mafeteng Hospital about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the capital, Maseru, to assess progress by public health campaigns funded by their respective foundations.

"I am pleased to be here to visit this remarkable hospital and to meet with dedicated staff and brave patients who help it function," Clinton said at Mafeteng, where he praised the staff.

"Thanks to their hard work we have been able to bring care and treatment to many people living with HIV/AIDS in Lesotho. We still have a lot of work to do and my foundation is dedicated to continuing to help increase access to treatment and testing," he said.

One of the poorest countries in Africa, landlocked Lesotho is grappling with a 23.2-percent AIDS infection rate, according to the latest United Nations figures.

Clinton and Gates toured the hospital and then participated in a discussion with staff and patients at the nearby Karabong clinic, which provides anti-retroviral treatment to more than 1,200 patients.

They also met HIV-positive mothers whose children have benefitted from infant diagnosis testing introduced by the Clinton Foundation, and patients living openly with HIV/AIDS who help staff the clinic and community health workers.

The workers are soon to be trained to provide HIV counselling and testing as part of the "Know Your Status" campaign launched by Lesotho's King Letsie III on World AIDS Day in December 2005.

As a result of Clinton Foundation funding, Mafeteng Hospital has been able to decentralised its care and treatment programmes to satellite health centres. Rural care centres are important to ensure that as many people as possible can access treatment.

The hospital serves the fourth largest health area in Lesotho and covers a population of 185,000 people. It is the second largest government-run HIV/AIDS facility, currently treating 1,100 patients, including 60 children.

AIDS kills nearly 70 people each day in the landlocked mountainous state but only 6,200 of the 56,000 HIV-positive people who need free anti-retroviral drugs actually receive them, according to both the government and the UN children's agency UNICEF.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Nuclear Space Technology at Space-Travel.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Chinese HIV victim detained after asking government for help
Beijing (AFP) Jul 20, 2006
A Chinese woman who contracted AIDS from a hospital blood transfusion was detained Thursday on suspicion of a serious crime after she asked the health ministry for more compensation, an activist said.







  • Greenland Begins Sale Of Oil Concessions
  • Self-Cooling Soda Bottles Could Sell Billions
  • Greenland Makes Oil Companies Melt
  • Canada To Defend Its Oil And Uranium Exports At G8 Talks

  • US-India Nuke Deal Revisited
  • Environmentalists Arrested In Russia After Anti-Nuclear Protest
  • US May Ask Russian Help With Nuke Waste
  • IAEA Chief Cautions Turkey Over Nuclear Energy Plans

  • California's Model Skies
  • ESA Picks SSTL To Develop Atmospheric CO2 Detector
  • Faster Atmospheric Warming In Subtropics Pushes Jet Streams Toward Poles
  • Atmospheric Warming Expanding The Tropics

  • Malaysia And Indonesia Join Forces To Dampen Haze Problem
  • Fires Rage In Indonesian Borneo And Sumatra
  • WWF Warns Over Pulp Giant In Indonesia
  • World Bank Vows To Improve Forestry Program In Cambodia

  • Smog Damage To Crops Costing Billions
  • WWF Reports That Bluefin Tuna Fishery Threatened In East Atlantic
  • Reducing The Global Need For Nitrogen Fertilizers
  • Food-Crop Yields In Future Greenhouse-Gas Conditions Lower Than Expected

  • Toyota To Expand Hybrid Car Range In US
  • Ford First To Offer Clean-Burning Hydrogen Vehicles
  • Smart Cars To Rule The Roads
  • Nano Replacement For Petroleum

  • Boeing Puts Aircraft Market At 2.6 Trillion Dollars
  • Innovative Solutions Make Transportation Systems Safer Secure and Efficient
  • Joint Strike Fighter Is Not Flawed Finds Australian Government
  • Globemaster Airdrops Falcon Small Launch Vehicle

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement