Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said the U.S. and other countries need to reform their health- care systems to reach the most high-risk groups for AIDS, which have been neglected over the past quarter century.

The U.S. government has failed to prevent the virus in blacks, who account for half of new infections, he said today at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. In Africa, 30 percent of babies born to mothers with HIV are infected with the virus, though drugs could cut the risks to less than 2 percent. He said his foundation will increase its work to reduce the infection rates.

Clinton, 61, who has made the fight against AIDS a focal point of his post-White House career, said every health clinic should routinely test for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, especially in developing countries where 80 percent of infected people don't know their status. He commended Mexico for passing legislation to increase access to health care, saying such actions will help reduce the number of new HIV infections that reached 2.7 million people worldwide in 2007.

``AIDS is a very big dragon,'' Clinton said. ``The mythological dragon was slain by St. George, the original knight in shining armor, but this dragon must be slain instead by millions of millions of foot soldiers.''

About 56,300 people in the U.S. contract HIV each year, 40 percent more than previously expected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported July 29. Hardest hit are blacks, of whom 500,000 are infected.

`Wake-Up Call'

``For Americans, this should be a wake-up call that even as we keep working globally we need to do much more to fight AIDS at home, and I intended to do so with my foundation,'' Clinton said.

Clinton's foundation has worked to reduce the cost of drugs by 50 percent and help more than 1 million people get access to care. Its budget for international AIDS relief is almost as large as the U.S. government's budget was for those programs during his administration.

In the two years since the former president last spoke at the biennial meeting, his foundation has grown to more than 500 people with a $200 million budget from 50 people and $5 million. It also expanded its work last month to include reducing the cost of malaria drugs.

During his eight years as president, Clinton tripled the AIDS budget to $237 million for relief programs, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Under President George W. Bush, AIDS funding has climbed to $6 billion in 2008.

Clashed With Congress

Clinton, a Democrat, was opposed on greater AIDS funding while in office by a Republican-controlled Congress and social stigmas about the disease and contraception, said Russell Riley, a presidential scholar at the University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs. Bush, a Republican with strong conservative credentials and policies that promote abstinence, didn't meet the same resistance, he said.

``When Clinton left Washington he also left behind many of those constraints that might have impeded some of the things he wanted to do with AIDS,'' Riley said. ``Clinton is a president who was very young when he came out of office and understood there was another career to be had outside electoral politics. These broader humanitarian efforts will be very important for his personal legacy.''

Business Strategies

The foundation's AIDS program, headed by former McKinsey & Co. consultant Anil Soni, tries to lower the cost of generic drugs and improve health care in developing countries by applying basic business planning strategies.

Unlike other AIDS organizations, the Clinton foundation isn't focused on supplying countries with relief workers or buying drugs. Instead, they act as a middleman ``greasing the wheels'' to help businesses and governments work together, Soni said.

The foundation also has a staff of chemists who develop less expensive ways to manufacture drugs. For the drug efavirenz, sold by Bristol Myers-Squibb Co. as Sustiva, the chemists found an alternative chemical pathway in the synthesis process to replace an expensive catalyst with a cheaper, zinc-based one.

About 60 percent of the foundation's AIDS money comes from a program called Unitaid, funded by an airline ticket tax on flights out of France, Chile, and six other countries. The remainder comes from private donors, such as the singer Elton John and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Easier Entrance

The foundation is in a unique position because the former president's star power gains the organization contacts with high- level government officials and chief executive officers.

``In terms of getting our foot in the door, President Clinton helps make that possible,'' said Soni. ``We have a position of trust with governments so they are willing to share a lot of information and we have an entrée to work with the CEOS.''

``They've really made a difference,'' said Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS. ``I'm impressed that they've got such solid knowledge of every step in the production process and they shave off a few cents here and there and offer that to low- income countries.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 4, 2008 17:10 EDT