BOSTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Former President Bill Clinton has some suggestions as to how to make President Bush's $15-billion initiative to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean more effective.
First of all, "It should never be a political issue," Clinton said Monday night at major AIDS conference in Boston.
Clinton told the 10th Retrovirus & Opportunistic Infections Conference -- attended by some 3,900 scientists specializing in AIDS research and treatment -- that he was "very grateful" for Bush's proposal to increase annual AIDS grants from $1 billion to $3 billion over a five-year period.
Clinton said the government must make sure those countries that receive the funds have systems in place to properly distribute them for their intended purpose, such as Uganda.
Some poor countries, he said, "don't have systems in place even if we get the medicines to them."
The former president also suggested that most of the funds be distributed through the U.N. Global AIDS Fund, which recently said its money is running out.
Under the Bush plan, the Global Fund would receive only $1 billion over the five-year period.
"I'd like to see more of it go through the Global Fund," Clinton said.
Clinton took the opportunity to admit he made a mistake when as president he opposed needle-exchange programs for drug users to help prevent the spread of the HIV virus.
"We have to put science over politics," he said.
Since leaving office two years ago, Clinton said his own foundation has been working to combat AIDS in 15 Caribbean and three African nations.
Noting that some 40 million people in the world are living with HIV, Clinton said he was concerned that some people "no longer think AIDS is a problem."
He said young gay men, in particular, "just don't think about it much."
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