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China, US launch cooperation in fighting AIDS
2004-03-02 00:00

China and the United States have launched a joint project to fight AIDS in ten Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

The Global AIDS Program, initiated by the US Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC), was launched here Tuesday with a promised 15-million-US-dollar investment from the US side.

The Global AIDS Program aims to provide information and technology to help the health departments in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Guangdong and Guizhou, Beijing Municipality, and the Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions to improve their ability to prevent the spread of AIDS in China.

The 2003 statistics from the Ministry of Health estimate that more than 840,000 Chinese people are HIV-carriers, of whom 80,000 are AIDS patients.

Vice-Minister of Health Wang Longde said the active measures adopted by the international community to combat AIDS were conducive to containing its spread.

The fight against AIDS by the Chinese government was an important component of global fight against AIDS, he said.

In recent decades, China had conducted effective cooperation with countries such as the United States and Germany, he said, adding China also accepted financial and technical assistance frominternational organizations including the World Health Organization.

Despite large amounts of economic, personnel and material resources used in AIDS prevention, China as a developing country needed more investment in this regard, he said, adding assistance from friendly countries was extremely valuable.

US Ambassador to China Clark T. Rantd Jr said the US governmentwould help China to respond in a timely and effective way to AIDS,expressing his hope that the two sides could cooperate closely to improve the technology of the testing, surveillance and treatment of AIDS.

The US Global AIDS Program has been launched in 25 countries, including China and three other Asian countries.

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