Indian pharmaceutical giant Cipla will give AIDS medicines at half the normal prices to former US President Bill Clinton's Foundation, which has decided to provide $10 million this year for treatment of 10,000 children in 10 developing nations.
The $10 billion plan is part of a pledge by the Foundation to reach at least 60,000 youngsters by next year, Clinton told reporters in New York on Monday.
Cipla has reached an agreement with the William J Clinton Presidential Foundation to supply pediatric AIDS medicines at half the cost, which will help extend treatment to twice the number of children.
Cipla has agreed to sell its syrups and child-sized pills at half of its normal price as the foundation is placing large orders, said Ira Magaziner, chairman of AIDS Initiative for the Foundation.
The Foundation, which is working with UN agencies to deliver the treatment, has already ordered medicines for China, the Dominican Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, Mozambique and Tanzania, The treatment would start in China as early as next month and would be progressively expanded to other nations.
Only about 15,000 to 25,000 out of 2,2 million children living with HIV are currently receiving treatment in Brazil and Thailand, United Nations estimates, bringing out the enormity of the problem.
Clinton said the world cannot turn its back on these children. The Foundation is working in several countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia where it provides technical assistance as also drugs and diagnostics at rates, which are in some cases 90 per cent lower. It is already cooperating with UNICEF to reach its goal of providing treatment to 60,000 youngsters.
