During a trip to Beijing yesterday, former US President William J. Clinton hosted a reception to celebrate the launching of a Clinton Foundation-supported HIV/AIDS service fellowship.

"The Ministry of Health's and my foundation's service fellowship is to train people who are willing to serve in areas of greatest need, help those with the HIV and AIDS, and offer those already practising in this area further training," Clinton said in a speech.

He said that the fellowship aims to address the geographical mismatch between HIV/AIDS clinical expertise, located in urban areas in China, and those affected by HIV/AIDS, who live predominantly in remote and rural regions.

Under the fellowship, the inaugural class of 8 highly skilled urban physicians will receive one month of advanced training in the US and then serve for eight months in a highly-affected province.

They will not only treat HIV/AIDS patients there but also train county-level physicians, Clinton said.

The training process will follow the example of Lixin, Anhui Province, he said.

The Sino-US Lixin HIV/AIDS Physician Training Centre is the first training centre for front-line physicians in a highly-affected resource-limited setting in China.

It is a joint collaboration between the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Clinton Foundation.

During the reception, Clinton also met six county-level physicians from the third training group, and expressed his appreciation for their efforts in helping with HIV/AIDS patients.

These physicians are taking an intensive three-month training programme given by Thomas R Warne, a highly-skilled HIV/AIDS clinician from the US.

Source: China Daily