By Xinhua,
Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged on Friday to contribute 560 million U.S. dollars to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria during a period of years from 2009.
Fukuda made the announcement before next week’s Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama and the Group of Eight summit Japan will host in July.
He expressed the hope that the contribution will help improve conditions especially in Africa.
Speaking at an international symposium entitled “From Okinawa to Toyako: Dealing with Communicable Diseases As Global Human Security Threats” in Tokyo, Fukuda said that some 80 percent of deaths caused by AIDS and malaria in the world are concentrated in sub-Saharan areas in Africa.
The Global Fund, created in 2002, has provided or earmarked 10.8 billion dollars for a total of 527 projects in 136 countries.