Post date: Jul 28, 2012 12:13:26 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (HOST BROADCASTER POOL) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton closed the International AIDS conference Friday (July 27) thanking those in attendance for their hard work and asking them to do more.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton tells "All of you have created the possibility that we could have an AIDS-free generation," he said. "We just have to keep pushing the rocks up the hill."
"All of this has really happened because of you, and the people who sat in these chairs at every previous AIDS conference going back to the beginning. Millions of people and an AIDS-free generation still depend on your daily tenacity and courage. No, we don't have all the money or the answers we need, but we have you. We have you to thank for the progress that has been made, and you for making us believe that we can achieve and AIDS free generation," said Clinton.
The former President was one of the closing speakers at the world's largest AIDS conference, which was in the United States for the first time in 22 years.
Nobel laureate Dr. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of the HIV virus, and new president of the International AIDS Society, told the meeting that more needed to be done in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
"In 2012, it is unacceptable that more than 300,000 babies are born H-I-V infected when we have, since the nineties, the tools to prevent mother to child transmission," said Barre-Sinoussi.
As many as 20,000 people -- including top scientists, politicians and celebrities -- attended the week-long International AIDS Conference in Washington, which began on Sunday.