US-based Clinton Foundation will help Yunnan Province, an AIDS-inflicted area in southwest China, enhance anti-virus treatment and upgrade its AIDS laboratory's effectiveness in management and professionalism in upcoming three years.

Representatives of the Clinton Foundation and officials with the health department of Yunnan Province discussed details of cooperation in AIDS prevention and treatment in Yunnan in the next three years at a conference recently held in Kunming, capital of Yunnan.

The Clinton Foundation seized an excellent opportunity in AIDS prevention in its assistance to Yunnan and provided it with timely and badly-needed support, said an official with the provincial health department.

The Clinton Foundation, a non-governmental organization set up after former US President Bill Clinton left his post, has launched AIDS treatment programs in 18 countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean region.

This was the first time for the Clinton Foundation and Yunnan to cooperate in AIDS treatment. The foundation will place its emphasis of cooperation in Yunnan on anti-virus treatment and laboratory upgrading.

Yunnan had reported a total of 16,141 HIV carriers and 1,063 AIDS patients by 2004, both the largest numbers nationwide. Lack of measures to intervene in the activities of the high-risk group was blamed for the rapid increase.

Experts warned China is now in a period of fast spread of HIV/AIDS, especially among the high-risk group, including drug-addicts and homosexuals.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)