From 1999 to 2002, I was saving the world.
That’s how I described my job at the World Health Organization, anyway. And while it was modestly said tongue in cheek, I honestly did/do feel like that’s exactly what I was doing. Saving the World. And it made me proud. I’m still proud, even though most of what I did was email folks who were actually saving the world.
In the early 2000s, Africa was a public health nightmare . HIV/AIDs was spreading and with it the ancient scourge of Tuberculosis, which was hoped to be contained and ultimately was instead increasing. That’s because about 40% of HIV patients have latent TB, which develops into full blown TB, a highly contagious airborne infection. One that since my day has become more drug resistant.
Drugs for HIV — anti-retrovirals, were expensive. Prohibitively so for the people who needed them most. The infrastructure for getting the drugs where they were most needed often didn’t exist. People were dying. Lots of people were dying because of disease and the inability to get and/or afford medicine.
I left WHO just as the Clinton Foundation started saving that part of the world.
The Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) worked with existing groups including the WHO and the U.N. But it brought clout to a field that was mired in bureaucracy. It cut to the chase. And it solved many of the problems of drug affordability and delivery. They negotiated incredible price deals. They worked on getting drugs to the people who needed it most, beginning with HIV-positive mothers because 90% of them transmitted HIV to their newborn babies.
The Clinton Foundation is everything American outreach should be. It should not be shuttered. We Americans should be shouting about the Clinton Foundation as a beacon of light. Exactly the way we all want the US to be viewed in the world. We Americans do good work. Good Works.
The Clinton Foundation is saving the world.
What is President Bill Clinton’s successor doing?
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George W Bush sure as hell ain’t saving the world.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
Well expressed Elyse.
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I believe GWB realized what his eight years cost the world and is living with the shame of his legacy. That’s why we don’t see much of him.
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Or he thinks he was such a very awesome prez, a veritable gift to the world so he ain’t gonna give nothin’ more.
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That CAN’T be it. No way.
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He’s no brain trust, W. And I’m sure this is exactly what Cheeney told him to believe.
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Talk about beating a dead horse. It never gets old, does it?
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WORD
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They have been very, very transparent, too, unlike the Bush foundation. I don’t remember anyone questioning Jeb! about his family’s foundation and whether anyone got access or special favors. No Congressional hearings or hanky-twisting about the fact we still don’t have a list of donors who gave to the Bushes..
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I wish screaming helped…
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The fact that the one screaming the loudest about this is the worlds largest leach makes me crazy.
Elyse, promise you’ll visit me in prison. I don’t know how much longer I can handle the dumbness of some of my co-humans.
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Maybe we can have adjoining cells!
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Most people really have no idea what non-profit organizations and foundations do, how they function, how they are funded, and how they actually make the world better (for the vast majority that do.) And I suppose, most people have no reason to know. But it does make that an easy target. I’ve learned a lot more about the Clinton Fdn recently and am pretty impressed. I also know that people who demand the fdn be “shut down immediately” have NO F’in IDEA what that means, or how difficult that would be to do. Multi-year commitments, niche projects, etc… You can’t just shut the doors. You’d have to find other organizations willing and able to take on those projects and commitments. Not so simple.
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Good to see a positive piece about the Clinton Foundation. On the other hand, I admire the way GW has basically stayed out of the fray.
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Would that he had started staying out, oh, 8 years earlier!
But the Foundation is great. Its demise will literally shorten the lives of millions of people.
All big charities have access. Direct lines of communications. Do people think the Gates Foundation folks don’t get calls and meetings and assistance? If anything the Clinton Foundation got significantly less while she was SoS.
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I don’t admire it at all, Frank. I think he senses that he has no credibility because of his disastrous Iraq war II that made everything worse and cost two trillion dollars.
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Mm mm. If I screwed up that badly, I think I’d try to do some good in the world.. But you’re probably right.
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No question that his Iraq policy was a disaster and expensive, but I think he’s stayed away because that what he believes ex-presidents should do.
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How nice to have worked in a helping profession. And in fact, I think you still do.
I’ve learned a lot about the Clinton Foundation since this controversy began. And as for me, it helps me to admire the Clintons more.
I think this is a great post. The last image of this post really drives home to me what many Republican leaders stand for: Lots of fun and games. Party hardy. And screw anyone who can’t afford to live that way. For me, you’ve really drawn a clear contrast here.
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What a nice comment. I was helping the folks that o the real work while at WHO, but it felt really good. What I do now is less altruistic!
I was originally unenthusiastic about Hillary. But not because I thought she’d make a poor president, but because I was (am)still sick of the constant efforts of the right to manufacture scandals. Ho hum!
If only, though, Trump would go away and paint puppies!
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But the world NEEDS more amateur paintings of Bichons!
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Well, they do say that laughter is the best medicine …
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The last picture honestly made me laugh out loud! As someone who has worked in the non-profit world for 20 years, I appreciate any person willing to put themselves in the position of fighting for the rights of those who may not necessarily have a voice to do so!
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The world needs more folks willing (and able) to do what you’re doing. Good for you!
As for the picture, I wish Trump would go do some painting. (I tried to post Bush’s portrait of Putin in this response, but couldn’t figure out how on my iPad!
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Perhaps if he tried a bit of painting, Trump might find a kinder, more tolerant side of himself. Can’t see it though!😜
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I can’t quite see it; but perhaps that’s cause he wouldn’t be able to keep enough gold in liquid form! 😏
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