Two Bills Clinton Gates on Fight against AIDS

The two Bills spoke at sessions of the [AIDS 2010] International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Bill Clinton, the former Leader of the Free world, appealed to the delegates ” Health care is not just a right, it’s basically an extraordinarily good economic investment with a very high rate of return… Keep in mind that every Dollar we waste today puts a life at risk.”

Bill Gates, the Microsoft kingpin, implored ” We can do more to get the most benefit from each Dollar – if we push for a new focus on efficiency in both treatment and prevention – we can drive down the number of infections dramatically and start writing the story of the end of AIDS.”

AIDS Breakthrough microbicide Gel protects against Virus

In a South Africa study on 889 females, a microbicide gel spiked with the AIDS drug tenofovir, lowered the risk of HIV infection by 50% after one year of use and 39% after 2.5 years, compared to a gel that contained no medicine.

Results of the study will be displayed Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. The research was published online Monday by the journal Science.

Even partial protection is a breakthrough and the gel also cut in half the chances of getting HSV-2, the virus that causes genital herpes.

Gilead Sciences Inc. has licensed the rights to produce the gel, royalty-free, for the 95 poorest countries in the world.

To be licensed in ” first world ” USA, a gel or cream to prevent HIV infection may need to be at least 80 percent effective.