ITALY GIVES TANZANIA HIV/AIDS FUNDING BOOST

Tanzania has received a $2.4 million (roughly 2 million euro) donation from the government of Italy to help fund HIV/AIDS research and treatment. Marcello Griccioli, Italian ambassador to Tanzania, commented that the support would be directed to bolstering healthcare programs both in the Tanzanian mainland and on the island of Zanzibar, in the Indian Ocean off the country's west coast.

Tanzania Finance Permanent Secretary Gray Mgonja, who signed the agreement on behalf of the government, noted that the funds would be spent in the country's capital, Dodoma, and Iringa, two of the most disease-afflicted areas of the mainland. Pemba Island, near Zanzibar, was also earmarked for funding.

The rate of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania and Zanzibar is among the highest in Africa. In 2004, there were more than 2 million infected citizens in Tanzania alone.