*EPF104 10/23/00
Excerpt: Clinton Interview with "The Advocate"
(America must deal with global AIDS crisis, he says) (660)

The way to keep a sense of urgency to the fight against AIDS in the United States is to recognize America's responsibility to help fight the AIDS epidemic around the world, President Clinton says.

In an interview with a reporter from The Advocate, a national gay rights magazine, Clinton was asked how the United States can keep a high priority to conquering the disease with the advances now being made in the treatment against it.

"We can keep more edge on the fight against AIDS at home if we marry it more closely to the fight against AIDS around the world," Clinton said.

He noted that in Africa there are countries that last year had very high growth rates but "within 10 years to 15 years will have more people in their '60s than in their '30s because of the AIDS epidemic."

Clinton was interviewed aboard Air Force One September 27 as he flew to Dallas, Texas. The interview was released by the White House October 23.

Following is the excerpt from the White House transcript:

(begin excerpt)

QUESTION: Because of the advances of AIDS treatment and the decline in death rates, it's hard to maintain the sense of urgency about ending this disease. You've worked on it a lot during your two administrations. How can we maintain that sense of urgency to conquer it?

THE PRESIDENT: The first thing I think we have to do is to keep in mind, keep the public in mind that there are 40,000 new cases (in the United States) every year, and that more than half of them affect children and young people under 25. That's a lot.

The second thing I would say is, I do believe there is overwhelming bipartisan consensus in the Congress and in the country to continue looking for a cure, and to continue investing in that.

And, thirdly, there is overwhelming bipartisan consensus to continue, I think, the very large funding levels that we've achieved in CARE. So I think we're in reasonably good shape on that.

The next big step that I think will keep a sense of urgency is to really internationalize the struggle, to recognize America's responsibility to deal with the global AIDS crisis and to understand that the relationship between AIDS at home and AIDS abroad is quite a close one, especially with borders being as open as they are now, a lot of immigrants coming here every year, and our responsibilities and the rest of the world and our hopes for the rest of the world -- particularly in our outreach to Africa, to the Indian subcontinent, and increasingly to the states of the former Soviet Union, where the AIDS rates are growing very rapidly -- our ability to do what we're trying to do in those areas will turn, in no small part, on our ability to work with them, to help them reverse the epidemic.

I've had an unprecedented outreach to Africa, and we just passed this big trade bill with Africa and we're trying to get debt relief for the poorest African countries that are being well run. But there are countries over there that last year had very high growth rates, that within 10 years to 15 years will have more people in their '60s than in their '30s in those countries because of the AIDS epidemic. Their economies, their societies are very likely to become largely dysfunctional, along with their political systems, unless we can do something to turn the AIDS epidemic.

I think we can keep more edge on the fight against AIDS at home if we marry it more closely to the fight against AIDS around the world.

(end excerpt)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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