The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's HIV/AIDS prevention program in China will expand to Changsha, capital of central Hunan Province, this year, the Ministry of Health said on Friday.

The ministry is a partner in the program.

The program initially covered 13 major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, plus the southern Hainan Province when it was launched in 2007.

The effort, with a five-year grant of US$50 million, mainly aims to fight HIV by supporting government and non-government efforts to help those most vulnerable to infection. That category includes drug users, sex workers and homosexual men.

Other partners include the State Council (cabinet) AIDS Working Committee Office, the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and the Chinese HIV and STD Association.

According to a United Nations report in September, China had about 700,000 people infected with HIV, including an estimated 85,000 who had developed AIDS.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2009)