Clinton and Gates, who have unofficially been named "the two Bills" by the media, visited the Mafeteng Hospital about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the capital, Maseru, to assess progress by public health campaigns funded by their respective foundations.

"I am pleased to be here to visit this remarkable hospital and to meet with dedicated staff and brave patients who help it function," Clinton said at Mafeteng, where he praised the staff.

"Thanks to their hard work we have been able to bring care and treatment to many people living with HIV/AIDS in Lesotho. We still have a lot of work to do and my foundation is dedicated to continuing to help increase access to treatment and testing," he said.

One of the poorest countries in Africa, landlocked Lesotho is grappling with a 23.2-percent AIDS infection rate, according to the latest United Nations figures.

Clinton and Gates toured the hospital and then participated in a discussion with staff and patients at the nearby Karabong clinic, which provides anti-retroviral treatment to more than 1,200 patients.

They also met HIV-positive mothers whose children have benefitted from infant diagnosis testing introduced by the Clinton Foundation, and patients living openly with HIV/AIDS who help staff the clinic and community health workers.

The workers are soon to be trained to provide HIV counselling and testing as part of the "Know Your Status" campaign launched by Lesotho's King Letsie III on World AIDS Day in December 2005.

As a result of Clinton Foundation funding, Mafeteng Hospital has been able to decentralised its care and treatment programmes to satellite health centres. Rural care centres are important to ensure that as many people as possible can access treatment.

The hospital serves the fourth largest health area in Lesotho and covers a population of 185,000 people. It is the second largest government-run HIV/AIDS facility, currently treating 1,100 patients, including 60 children.

AIDS kills nearly 70 people each day in the landlocked mountainous state but only 6,200 of the 56,000 HIV-positive people who need free anti-retroviral drugs actually receive them, according to both the government and the UN children's agency UNICEF.

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