China will receive US$121.2 million from the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, according to China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the agreement set to be signed on Tuesday, China will be given US$39.4 million for the prevention and control of malaria, which will cover 121 counties in six provinces and benefit 63.8 million rural residents, including 19 million at high risk.

The HIV/AIDS fund, totaling US$28.9 million, will help control the epidemic in seven provinces and regions.

Twenty provinces will share the fund of US$52.9 million to fight TB, with the aim of reducing the mortality rates of drug-resistance cases, infection in HIV groups and among the migrant population.

China currently has an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV, including 75,000 AIDS patients. The country also has about 5 million TB patients, 80 percent of whom live in the countryside, and 740,000 new cases of malaria were reported in 2004.

China has successfully applied for eight donation programs from the Global Fund, including five still in operation. The total amount of the fund has reached US$390 million, according to the national CDC.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2006)