Fifty-million yuan (US$6.1 million) is to be poured into villages with high rates of AIDS in east China's Anhui Province.

The money will be shared between 48 villages, where HIV/AIDS cases account for 55 percent of the province's total.

By the end of 2005, the province had reported a total of 3,819 HIV cases, including 1,751 AIDS patients and 532 deaths from AIDS, statistics from the department show.

The program includes setting up a special clinic for HIV/AIDS patients in each village and improving road conditions and drinking water supply facilities.

In addition, each AIDS patient will have a monthly treatment fee of 200 yuan (some US$25). A monthly subsidy of 100 yuan (about US$12) will be given to those AIDS patients with special difficulties, according to the department.

China currently has approximately 650,000 HIV-infected people including around 75,000 AIDS patients, according to recent official estimates.

The Chinese government increased its spending on AIDS prevention to 800 million yuan (US$99 million) in 2005 from 100 million yuan (some US$12 million) in 2002.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2006)