DAKAR, Aug 4, 2008 (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton wound up a four-nation Africa tour aimed at combating HIV/AIDS in Dakar on Sunday, praising France for its financial support through the agency Unitaid.
"It is possible to honour the World Health Organisation guidelines, in my opinion, only because of Unitaid and the government of France," he said in a speech after visiting sick children.
"It may be the single most important contribution of France to the rest of the world since the end of the Second World War," he added, recalling that Paris gave most money to Unitaid, a major partner of his Clinton Foundation.
Unitaid is an agency aimed at financing the wholesale purchase of drugs to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by persuading laboratories to produce pediatric versions of medicines at a reduced cost.
The Clinton Foundation launched an anti-AIDS initiative in 2002 and this month has reached an agreement with several pharmaceutical companies to slash the price of the top anti-malaria treatment by 30 percent.
Unitaid is financed mainly by a tax on airline tickets introduced in July 2006 by France, with several other countries saying they would follow suit.
"A huge number of children throughout the world (hit by the AIDS virus) will live because of this idea," Clinton said.
France currently contributes 70 percent of the budget for Unitaid, headed by former French minister of health and of foreign affairs Philippe Douste-Blazy, who was present for the final leg of Clinton's tour. Clinton earlier visited Ethiopia, Rwanda and Liberia.
The former US president left Dakar late Sunday for Mexico City where an international conference on AIDS is being held.
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