The Global Fund launched a program in central China's Hunan Province on Thursday to help prevent the spread of HIV among injecting drug users and sex workers, according to the provincial health department.

Measures will include condom promotion, methadone prescribing, syringe and needle exchanges, a women's healthcare center, an HIV/AIDS consultant and a testing center, said Fan Yuancheng, director of the program.

The Geneva-based fund will provide about US$2 million for the first two years of the five-year program, Fan said.

"The HIV/AIDS situation is severe in our province," said Chen Xiaochun, vice director of the Hunan provincial health department, "And the number of HIV positive people is growing rapidly every year."

By the end of June, Hunan reported 1,963 people with HIV and 241 with AIDS, but Chen said the number of actual HIV positive people is estimated to be between 30,000 and 50,000.

According to the provincial center for disease control and prevention, over 60 percent of people with HIV in Hunan are injecting drug users.

The new program is the fourth Global Fund-backed project to help China fight AIDS, with work in a total of seven southern and western provinces planned.

Hu Hong, program manager for China, said the country will receive US$98 million in all for the initiatives.

Established in 2002, the Global Fund has so far funded projects to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in 130 countries around the world.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2005)