Dr John P. Howe, president and chief executive of Project HOPE, said his health education foundation is "looking forward to further discussions with the ministry" on its plan to establish 10 centres nationwide to train Chinese medical staff to fight HIV/AIDS.

In May, HOPE will join with Wuhan University's School of Medicine to conduct a national AIDS conference. High-calibre experts from home and abroad will give lectures at the training course.

Latest ministry statistics indicated that there were 1 million HIV carriers in China by June last year, and the number is expected to grow by 30 per cent annually in the coming years.

Howe said the foundation is also studying a proposal by the ministry and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on creating a national training base in Beijing on general medical topics.

Howe, together with Chairman of Project HOPE Dr Charles A. Sanders, is currently in Beijing on a week-long visit to discuss with their Chinese partners prospects for co-operation and to review their achievements during the last 20 years.

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE is now running programmes in 32 countries. It arrived in China in 1983 and has since collaborated with China on programmes such as diabetes education, heart surgery and hospital management.

(China Daily January 16, 2003)