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.