Former Pres. Clinton Receives 2005 Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions for Work in Fight Against HIV/AIDS

Former President Clinton on Thursday was awarded the 2005 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases for his post-presidency work in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the AP/ABC News reports. Clinton expressed gratitude that the Clinton Foundation has been able to reduce the price of antiretroviral medicines to less than $140 per person annually for some HIV/AIDS patients. "I just knew that unless somebody was committed to helping these countries systemize their approach and get this medicine out there, people were going to keep dying like flies who don't have to die," Clinton said. He estimated that more than 100,000 people in developing countries will have been helped by the foundation's work by the end of 2005 (Barrett, AP/ABC News, 4/1). He added that he hopes more than two million people would be helped by his foundation's programs by 2008. Clinton also called on wealthy nations to provide more assistance in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, saying it is "unconscionable" how little some nations are doing to prevent disease epidemics, according to the Washington Post (Harris, Washington Post, 4/1).