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Clinton joins India's battle against killer diseases

HYDERABAD: US President Bill Clinton threw his weight behind India's struggle with killer diseases on Friday, administering polio drops to an infant and calling for a drive against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The president watched as three patients received tuberculosis treatment at a non-profit trust hospital in the southern city of Hyderabad, the penultimate stop on his four-day visit to India.

Then he dropped polio vaccine into the mouth of eight-month-old Sandya, who scowled as she lay in the arms of her mother. "Oooh. She's beautiful," he said as he held the baby's tiny hand.

Although India had about 70 percent of the world's 5,000 reported polio cases in 1999, it has made great strides in bringing down the incidence of the crippling virus through mass inoculation drives. In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio reported from 125 countries.

In a speech to employees of the Mahavir hospital, Clinton said the diseases still plaguing India brought "human tragedies, economic calamities".

Noting that India had virtually eradicated polio, he said it was now time to make a similar effort against the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

"We want to do for AIDS, for malaria, for TB what you have done for polio," he said.

"We must strengthen prevention, speed research, develop vaccines and ultimately eliminate these modern plagues from the face of the earth. It can be done, you have proved it with polio, if governments, foundations and private sector work together."

He noted that more people had AIDS in India than in any other single country in the world.

The Indian government's most recent estimate of the number of people with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, is 3.5 million, but non-government organisations say the number could be closer to five million as there are still many cases which have not been reported.

In some parts of southern India the spread of HIV has reached "generalised epidemic" proportions, where more than one percent of women attending antenatal clinics are HIV positive.

"We have to face up to our responsibility for preventing this disease because there is not yet a cure," Clinton said.

"With AIDS in particular it also takes leadership. I want to commend Prime Minister (Atal Behari) Vajpayee for his efforts to focus India's attention on the urgency of this challenge."

He announced that the United States would contribute a further $4 million this year to programmes to prevent AIDS and care for its victims in India.

Shaking hands with hospital staff after the speech an ear-nose-and-throat doctor from New York, Vasu Malepati, held up a "Hilary 2000" sign promoting her campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in New York.

"I love that sign," he said. "Thank you. Where did you get it?"-Reuters