Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton held a roundtable in Brooklyn and met with HIV/AIDS activists Thursday. Josh Robin filed the following report.

On a rare break from the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton was at her Brooklyn headquarters Thursday, meeting with AIDS activists, who say the former New York senator has been more receptive to a meeting than her opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders. Josh Robin filed the following report. 

A sign at Clinton headquarters spotlights the fight against Donald Trump. But Clinton declined to comment on her potential Republican opponent, preferring policy, not politics. 

"Wonkish is a term of endearment, as far as I'm concerned," she said.

Clinton's discussion with 20 activists centered on how to eradicate the AIDS epidemic. 

While no longer the virtually untreatable scourge, activists say federal health officials still estimate there are 40- to 50,000 avoidable HIV infections each year.  And Clinton also notes that women account for almost 60 percent of infections in sub-Saharan Africa. 

"So we do have the tools to end this epidemic once and for all, but we need to re-dedicate ourselves to fighting HIV and AIDS and leaving no one behind," Clinton said.

The group emerged with some - not all - of what it asked for. 

"We didn't expect that to come from this meeting," said Charles King, president and CEO of Housing Works. "We've opened a dialogue. We will continue the dialogue."

Far away from Brooklyn, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination was in South Dakota, which votes on June 7. Bernie Sanders was taking note of a lack of enthusiasm for Clinton among those in a particular age group. 

​"And I'll tell you what has excited me about this campaign. And that is that in state after state, and not just in the states that we win, it turns out that we get far more votes than Secretary Clinton from people 45 years of age and younger,"  he said.

But back in Brooklyn, Sanders was criticized for not holding a similar meeting with AIDS activists. 

"The issue is not that Senator Sanders has said he's not going to meet with us, but he has not yet made that commitment. And so we are pushing for him to make that commitment," said Phill Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute.

In a statement, a spokeswoman says, "Senator Sanders has been a staunch ally of AIDS/HIV activists and has consistently fought to make sure the life saving drugs many people affected by HIV need are not only available but affordable. We look forward to a continued dialogue with these and other activists."