Step up efforts in AIDS campaign

When Wen Jiabao and then Hu Jintao visited AIDS patients in Beijing hospitals in 2003 and in 2004 respectively, the Chinese government seemed prepared to confront the virus head on. But, such action has come too late and has proved to be as weak as the disease is virulent.
Foreign and local businesses in China, with a special role to play, are similarly tardy even as the virus is increasingly landing on their own doorsteps.

Official and unofficial statistics differ, but taking a median position, it's likely there are around one million Chinese infected with HIV, the virus leading to AIDS. Infection rates are climbing at a rate of around 30 percent annually and the most affected group is between 15-29, the country's key productive and consumer demographic and, essentially, China's future.

It looks dire, a conviction confirmed in a report by the United Nations AIDS office. In 2002, UNAIDS published a report on the disease on the mainland called, dramatically, "China's Titanic Peril."

It argued: "A potential HIV/AIDS disaster of unimaginable proportion now lies in wait to rattle the country, and it can be feared that in the near future, China might count more HIV infections than any other country in the world."

Part of the rationale for that gloomy projection is the manner of the virus' spread. In South Africa, for instance, it has been noted that when the virus first took hold in the early 1990s, its prevalence rate was at just 1 percent. By 2003, it was at 20 percent and rising fast.

The shape of HIV's establishment in a population puts the onus on officials to act quickly. This China has not done. The first AIDS case in the mainland was detected in 1985.

Despite this, as with SARS outbreaks some years later, Beijing buried its head. It was not until 2003 that Beijing initiated assistance packages and prevention measures, such as the "Four Free and One Care" policy. It was not until 2006 that the State Council launched the government's first real preventative legislation and admitted AIDS was an issue needing such high profile attention. Beijing's laxity has clearly left many gaps in the AIDS landscape in China. This puts both a moral and an economic obligation on to the private sector.

Unfortunately, in general, the corporate sector has followed Beijing's poor lead and has tended to find the same sand pit for its troubled head. The moral case is clear. Morality is deemed to come at a cost.

In an article on the business response to AIDS in the Harvard Business Review published in 2006, authors Mergen Reddy and Boetie Swanepoel noted: "The root constraint for companies trying to manage HIV, we believe, is not the inadequacy of therapies or education, but cost." The question of direct cost comes down to a balance between losing workers, both existing and potential and consumers, and the cost of finding ways to lessen the impact of the disease.

Reddy and Swanepoel have devised risk-trading measures, via already existing corporate insurance policies, and a schedule of investment instruments allowing employers (in the mining sector, which was the target industry) to cut the costs of employee treatment by up to 40 percent, leading to a halving of employee absenteeism rates.

Any such programs must be founded on excellent stakeholder communications with relevant bodies.

In China, this would include government and any of the many civil groups active in the field.

A new report from the World Economic Forum showed 47 partnerships have been set up in around one million workplaces around the world.

Businesses in China therefore have plenty of models. They have had plenty of warning.

But action is so far limited.

There is no time to waste on AIDS in China, which just makes it all the more bizarre as to why that commodity is indeed being squandered.

Ex-WellPoint Exec Accused of Womanizing

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Colby was one of corporate America's most admired executives before he was abruptly fired last spring for what was vaguely described at the time as misconduct of a "non-business nature." Now details about his personal life are spilling out, and it's clear he was more than just Wall Street's darling.

In a cluster of lawsuits gathered up by The Associated Press, the former chief financial officer of health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. is depicted as a corporate Casanova _ a world-class, love-'em-and-leave-'em sort of guy who romanced dozens of women around the country simultaneously, made them extravagant promises and then went back on his word with all the compassion of a health insurance company denying a claim.

One woman says Colby got her pregnant and harangued her via text message ("ABORT!!") to terminate the pregnancy. He also allegedly gave some of his girlfriends sexually transmitted diseases, and proposed to at least 12 women since 2005.

The allegations are contained in lawsuits filed before and after Colby's departure by three women who say they were ill-used by the businessman.

Colby and his attorneys have refused to comment, though in court papers he has disputed some of the allegations, and one of the lawsuits was thrown out a few months ago by a judge who found insufficient grounds for legal action.

By all accounts, the 54-year-old Colby _ a pudgy, bespectacled figure with salt-and-pepper hair _ charmed attractive women by showering them with compliments and gifts. While at least one of his accusers was a WellPoint underling, it appears he met many of the other women outside of work, via online dating sites, and he has not been accused of workplace sexual harassment.

"I'm not surprised that there are women who would come forward with the same story, because that appears to be Dave's modus operandi," said Mark Hathaway, a lawyer for two of the women who sued. "We've been contacted by a number of women."

His ouster is the latest, and perhaps the most lurid, in a string of cases in which corporate chieftains were bounced for alleged misbehavior outside the boardroom.

Last year, HBO's chief executive was forced out after being charged with throttling his girlfriend. Before that, a Boeing CEO lost his job after admitting to an affair with a female underling.

"There's no question companies are much more sensitive to ethical conduct on the part of their executives," W. Michael Hoffman, executive director for the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., said after Colby's ouster.

It was Colby who helped put together the $16.4 billion deal that created Indianapolis-based WellPoint in 2004. He was named best CFO in managed care for four years in a row by Institutional Investor magazine. Stockholders and Wall Street professionals saw the Columbia University graduate as someone who "gave it to you straight," said stock analyst Thomas Carroll.

"He would give you the good news along with the bad news," Carroll said. "If he said something, you could really hang your hat on it."

A Look at the 2008 Presidential Race

Clinton picks up emotional endorsements from black women in SC ... Obama looks to appeal to women ahead of SC primary ... Republican officials: Florida Sen. Mel Martinez to endorse McCain ... Edwards aims at Clinton-Obama fight on trail and in ads ... Huckabee focuses on widening Interstate 95 ... Kucinich quits presidential race ... Romney says his business background better qualifies him to fix the economy

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Clinton gains black endorsements in S.C.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton gathered emotional endorsements Friday from two prominent black women who implored blacks to set aside their excitement about her rival Barack Obama's campaign to be the first black president.

In the run-up to Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary, the first in which blacks could play a pivotal role, Clinton has spoken to mostly white audiences while her husband, Bill, the former president, has courted blacks. But that changed Friday when she made an explicit pitch for black support in a speech at a historically black college in South Carolina's state capital, surrounded by prominent black supporters.

Polls show blacks strongly supporting Obama in the state, while Clinton and John Edwards roughly split the white vote.

Meanwhile, Clinton and the Florida Democratic Party clamored to restore the state's convention delegates. The national party eliminated Florida's 185 delegates after the state broke party rules against holding their primary before Feb. 5.

Clinton leads almost 2-to-1 in the Sunshine State. She said Friday — just four days before Florida's primary — that she wants the convention delegates from there and Michigan reinstated.

Michigan also lost its Democratic delegates for moving up its contest. Clinton could claim most of its delegates because she won the state's primary after the other major candidates pulled their names from the ballot.

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Obama focuses on women's concerns in SC

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama looked to appeal to women's concerns, vowing to boost government spending on preschool, preventive health care and other programs.

Obama held consecutive events with small groups of women in South Carolina's two largest cities a day ahead of the state's Democratic presidential primary. He hopes to cut into rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's support among women, who were crucial to her victory in New Hampshire.

Sitting at a table with four women in Charleston, and then another four in Columbia, Obama said the Bush administration has reduced social programs vital to working families and single parents.

At his Columbia stop, the Illinois senator said he wants the federal government to work more actively with states to prevent mortgage foreclosures for struggling families.

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Florida senator to endorse McCain

MIAMI (AP) — Florida Sen. Mel Martinez endorsed Republican John McCain on Friday, a move that is likely to give the Arizona senator a crucial boost with the state's Cuban-Americans before the state's primary on Tuesday.

"I understand that he is ready on Day One to lead this nation, and I would trust the future and the security of this nation to this man," Martinez said in his introduction of McCain at the Latin Builders Association.

The decision is a blow to Rudy Giuliani, who's competing with McCain for support of voters in the Cuban-American community. Martinez, who was born in Cuba, emigrated to the United States as a teenager and is popular in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

McCain told the builders group that there is no need for a national catastrophic insurance fund in hurricane-weary Florida, saying he could bring the industry and government together to protect homeowners.

"I can ... get governors, legislatures and all of the people together, and insurance companies, and we can sit down and make insurance possible across state lines, establish risk pools and make sure every homeowner has the ability to insure their home for the future from national disaster," McCain said.

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Edwards aims at rivals' fight in ads

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Democrat John Edwards sought to underscore squabbling between his rivals that has intensified in the days leading to South Carolina's primary vote.

Making light of the clash between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Edwards joked Friday that he had considered asking the two to have dinner with him at a relative's house. That changed after Monday night's debate, he said.

"We saw all of the petty, personal bickering," Edwards told several hundred people at a restaurant. "That may be the way they do politics in New York, that may be the way that they do politics in Chicago. But South Carolina's better than that."

Edwards' campaign on also launched a radio and a television ad focused on the "personal attacks" between his rivals.

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Huckabee talks of widening I-95

MIAMI (AP) — Republican Mike Huckabee said the nation's economy would benefit from improved highways and transportation, including his proposal to widen the major East Coast artery — Interstate 95.

Huckabee said better roads would enable parents to spend less time stuck in traffic and more with their children — leading to stronger family ties.

"There is a direct economic correlation between the strength of marriage and family and the strength of America's economy," Huckabee told an audience of Christian business people on Friday. He mentioned no studies on that relationship.

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Kucinich abandons White House bid

CLEVELAND (AP) — Democrat Dennis Kucinich Friday abandoned his presidential bid to focus on a tough race for re-election to Congress.

Speaking at a union hall, Kucinich told supporters who chanted "Dennis, Dennis," that he would work to keep his campaign promises, not as president, but as a member of the U.S. House.

"I won't be president, but I can continue to fight for these important issues as the United States congressman representing the community that is first in my heart, Cleveland, Ohio," he said.

Kucinich made an urgent appeal on his Web site this week for congressional campaign contributions as "the only candidate who can't be bought — 'cause he's not for sale."

The six-term House member got only 1 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire presidential primary and was shut out in the Iowa caucuses.

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Romney touts his economic credentials

MIAMI (AP) — Former venture capitalist Mitt Romney asserted Friday he is better equipped than his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination — who all have more government experience — because "the only way to get America on track economically is to have a president who actually understands how the economy works."

With fear of a recession growing, Romney tried to build on a strong debate performance the prior evening by reiterating his outsider's credentials as a businessman. He blamed government paralysis in Washington for failure to expand health insurance coverage, end illegal immigration and wean the country from foreign oil.

"And part of what we're seeing right now in our economy is one of the manifestations of failing to act on the part of Washington," Romney told a breakfast meeting of the Latin Builders Association Inc.

Speaking to reporters on his bus elsewhere in Florida, rival John McCain insisted his service on the Senate Commerce Committee is better preparation for overseeing the U.S. economy than Romney's private-sector experience.

"Running an investment company is probably a good thing to do. Making national policy concerning our economy is probably more beneficial to the nation," the Arizona senator said.

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Weather forecast for parts of South Carolina on Saturday:

Conditions in Greenville: Cloudy skies early to partly cloudy later. High 50, low 31.

Conditions in Charleston: Rain showers early, then mostly cloudy skies. High 54, low 37. Chance of precipitation, 40 percent.

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THE DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards campaign in South Carolina. Dennis Kucinich held an afternoon news conference in Ohio to announce plans for quitting the presidential race.

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THE REPUBLICANS

Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mike Huckabee campaign in Florida.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Senator Clinton has a record that can feed everybody. And we need to be fed." — Richland County Councilwoman Bernice Scott, who endorsed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, at an event in South Carolina.

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STAT OF THE DAY:

Jimmy Carter was the last Democrat to win South Carolina in a presidential election. In 1976, Carter garnered 450,807 votes compared with Gerald Ford's 346,149 votes.