Chelsea Clinton took time out of her 10-day humanitarian trip in Africa to meet some of the kids that her AIDS work is benefitting –- and their appreciation definitely showed.
On Wednesday, Clinton and her dad visited the Ramotse Clinic in South Africa, which works together with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHIA) to provide patient services to between 2,000 and 2,500 patients each month, according to the organization.
By collaborating closely with the government, CHIA has contributed to some major healthy milestones. Today, 2.1 million people in South Africa living with AIDS are getting treatment, up from 700,000 people in 2009 -- a 200 percent increase.
The children who are getting improved care are well aware just how much of an impact Clinton’s work has had on their lives. One particularly appreciative kid planted a kiss on the humanitarian’s hand to show just how grateful he is.
With more than 5 million people infected with HIV, South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS. But the region, and a number of others, has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of deaths related to the disease recently. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of AIDS-related deaths in Eastern and Southern Africa dropped 38 percent, according to UNAIDS.
To get the world involved in the conversation on how to make effective change in places that are struggling most in Africa, Clinton, her father and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory co-hosted a panel that was livestreamed on Facebook on Thursday.
The father-and-daughter duo have also committed their trip to raising malaria awareness and to bringing clean drinking water to people in need.
Though Clinton spent most of her life avoiding the limelight, she’s continuing to step out in a very visible way to try and make the world a better place.
"I always got to meet girls who very much were my age and very much were experiencing different things and very similar things that I was experiencing in the United States," Clinton told CNN earlier this week of growing seeing what life looked like for those living in the developing world. "How could I not have thought about what I could do in my life to try to close the gaps that happened just by accident of where I was born?"
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