Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - April 12, 2005
Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
Generic drug maker Cipla Ltd., of Mumbai, India, will supply the drugs at more than a 50% discount. Prices weren't disclosed because, Mr. Clinton said, "Cipla is trying to figure out how much they can produce at that price."
The program seeks to treat 10,000 children in 2005 and 60,000 in 2006. Care will start in May in China, the Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda and Tanzania, later spreading to 10 countries.
While one in six AIDS deaths is a child (500,000 a year), fewer than one in 20 of those now getting drugs is a child.
Reasons include a dearth of pediatric AIDS doctors, kids' need for special syrup and small-pill formulations, and prices five times as high as discounted adult regimens.
Unicef called the Clinton initiative a "groundbreaking" effort to "radically alter the landscape" for treating children.
The rural program seeks to widen drug access programs from cities to the countryside, where 75% of patients in Asia and Africa actually live.
To date, said Paul Farmer, founder of the Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit Partners in Health, which pioneered rural treatment in Haiti, efforts to expand care into the countryside have been "too little too late."
As a first step, the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative is helping Partners in Health to deliver drugs to Rwanda, later expanding to Tanzania and Mozambique.
The pediatric program uses funds raised from the Children's Investment Fund and Lone Pine Capital. Backers of the rural initiative include the Ruettgers Family Foundation of Boston and other private donors.
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