China has made remarkable achievements in combating AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria, said a French doctor specializing in
infectious diseases.
Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said it had so far donated
424 million U.S. dollars to support China's fight against the three
diseases.
China is the fund's second largest beneficiary and one of the
best performers in its global campaign, said the Harvard-educated
doctor.
At present, China operates 10 programs in 30 provinces under the
support of the Global Fund.
Kazatchkine said the two parties had carried out effective
cooperation in combating AIDS through educating young people and in
providing prevention methods for drug addicts and commercial sex
workers.
As a populous developing country, China faces challenges posed
by the three diseases along with the rest of the world, Vice Health
Minister Huang Jiefu said. He added the government attached much
importance and made great investment to the prevention of the three
diseases.
China has over the past five years invested 10 million U.S.
dollars into the Global Fund.
Huang said a five-year cooperation program is to be carried out
between China and the Global Fund to help non-governmental
organizations improve their organizational capacity.
The Global Fund, founded in 2002, has so far collected 20
billion U.S. dollars, two-thirds of the international body's money,
to combat the three diseases.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2007)