Former U.S. President Bill Clinton (centre) stands with Dominican first lady Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez (left), and director of Copresida Humberto Salazarduring his visit with HIV/AIDS patients at the Robert Reid Cabral hospital in Santo Domingo, on Tuesday. Clinton's foundation recently received a US$1.25 million grant to help fight HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, which has the world's second-highest rate of the disease after sub-Saharan Africa. - AP

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP):

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited HIV-positive Dominican children in a hospital funded by his foundation for an up-close look at how AIDS can ravage its smallest victims.

Tuesday's visit was the first stop on an eight-day global tour of projects of the Clinton Foundation, which has several ongoing campaigns, including efforts to fight AIDS in the developing world and childhood obesity in the United States.

Clinton toured a playroom and the paediatric AIDS ward at the Robert Reid Cabral Children's Hospital, which an administrator said treats roughly 610 HIV-positive children and teenagers. About one-fourth are currently receiving anti-retroviral drug therapy.