Bill Clinton
H: Our President Bill Clinton.
Since leaving office five years ago,
he has spent a prodigious amount of time
on the road for his foundation,
promoting AIDS awareness and prevention.
Earlier this week,
I spoke with him from Johannesburg, South Africa,
part of his six-nation tour of Africa.
I began by asking him
why Africa has been more affected by AIDS
than any other place in the world.
B: I think that'd got out of control
partly because there were not systems in place
both to prevent the people (from) contracting it and spreading it.
And I think we are beginning to make some headway
not only in Africa, but in another places in the world
where it's a problem and it is spreading worldwide,
growing even faster now in terms of the rate of increase
in former Soviet Union and the Caribbean, India, China.
We're working on it in all these places doing our best and
the Africans are very brave and very resourceful
and I think we're finally beginning to see some changes here.
H: I know your AIDS foundation, Mr. President,
is making a great deal of progress
in terms of making treatment and healthcare centers
more accessible to the poor as well as to children.
And not only in Africa but in other countries.
As you mentioned, I know in China and India,
you've done a lot of work as well.
Is it reasonable to expect that this can be brought under control
or is the rate of the epidemic growing at such a fast pace
that it is almost impossible to keep up with it?
B: Well, let me say,
yes, it's reasonable to expect it can be brought under control
but you have to attack education and prevention
and care and treatment at the same time,
and the two things speed up each other.
When you get bigger infection rates,
you've got to treat people,
you've got to overcome any kind of cultural aversion,
talking about it and get young people to behave responsibly
and you've got to do whatever you can
to get as many people tested as quickly as possible
but keep in mind,
this is a disease that's one hundred percent preventable,
there is medicine that stops mother-to-child transmission,
there is other medicine
that gives most young adults who take it a normal life span
and there was pediatric medicine
that gives little kids that get the HIV positive
a good chance to grow up and live normal lives.