NEW YORK (AP) - At an anti-AIDS gala that drew both celebrities and protesters, former President Clinton urged the Bush administration to come up with $2.4 billion annually to fight the disease around the world.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called AIDS "the worst epidemic that mankind has ever faced," while rock star Michael Stipe and CBS news anchor Dan Rather lamented that more than 8,000 people around the world die of AIDS each day.

The presentation of the 2002 awards for business excellence by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS brought more than 500 people from the art, business and diplomatic worlds to New York's Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River along with two dozen AIDS protesters - several of whom arrived by boat. Other VIPs at the dinner included Dikembe Mutombo of the Philadelphia 76ers and musicians Wyclef Jean and Lionel Ritchie.

Clinton presented the award for individual business leadership to William H. Roedy, president of MTV Networks International, which has aired spots on AIDS. Annan presented the award for business excellence in the workplace to DaimlerChrysler AG for its South African HIV/AIDS program, which includes access to AIDS drugs.

Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts Pte Ltd. in Thailand won the award for business excellence in the community for an education program targeting young women who might have gone into the sex industry. The women were given training for vocations such as nursing and hotel work.

The protesters from ACT UP New York and the Health GAP were demonstrating against Coca-Cola, one of the 75 international companies that have joined the Business Coalition. They claim the company only provides HIV/AIDS health care coverage to the 1,500 people it employs directly in Africa - not to the 100,000 people who bottle and distribute Coke products under licensing agreements.

Robert Lindsay, vice president for public affairs for Coca-Cola Africa who was at the awards dinner, said: "What we've been asked is to provide treatment to the independent businesses we work with across the continent. ... The reality is this is not possible."

Former U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who heads the Global Business Coalition, said the message from the demonstrators was that companies weren't doing much to fight AIDS.

"I agree with that message. That's why we're here," he said, to loud applause. "The 75 companies are the companies that are doing something, but they may not be doing enough. So I welcome the demonstrators. We're on the same side."

Clinton cited estimates that the number of HIV cases is on the verge of increasing from 40 million to 100 million, which the world can't afford. The virus is spreading fastest in former Soviet countries, followed by the Caribbean and India, he said.

"It will slice through India like a hot knife through butter," Clinton said.

Annan has called for $10 billion annually to reverse the AIDS epidemic by 2015. Clinton said the U.S. share should be $2.4 billion. The United States has earmarked $500 million for the fund.

Paul Usungu, a Ugandan bush pilot and father of 10 from the African Services Committee, who is HIV positive, invited Clinton to go to Africa and witness the plight of HIV sufferers.

"We need your financial support," he told the business executives. "You will improve our lives because we don't have hope - and tomorrow I don't think I'll make it."