BEIJING - The country's top health officials state that an international charity's decisions not to give millions of dollars to Chinese organizations that fight AIDS and other diseases will not bring about the end of those organizations. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced on Monday that it will withhold $95 million from the $270 million in grants  it had planned to give China. That decision came as the result of months of discussion between the charity and Chinese officials. On the mainland, a large number of programs meant to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS have received money from the Global Fund. Many observers now fear that the announced cut will undermine those organizations' work. Chen Zhu, the minister of health, said officials have found a way to limit the harm. "In the coming five years, the Chinese government will constantly increase its financial support of social organizations, particularly those that work to control and prevent HIV/AIDS." Chen said while addressing the 6th Experience Exchange Conference of International Cooperation Program on HIV/AIDS in China on Monday. In a recent survey of more than 200 organizations taking part in the fight against HIV/AIDS on the mainland, nearly 80 percent of them said they had received grants from the Global Fund. About 83 percent of them said they will find it difficult to continue operating without financial support from abroad, it said. Official statistics showed the Global Fund has given China $548 million in grants since 2003. Xia Jing, leader of a Beijing-based grassroots organization dedicated to controlling AIDS, said: "We were like children fostered by foreign milk. As foreign money began to be withdrawn from China, we were faced with serious financial hardships." Han Mengjie, executive director of Global Fund China Programs, said the Chinese government has fully recognized the important role social organizations play in controlling diseases. "The work done and efforts made by such organizations must be sustained for a long time to supplement the government's intervention work,"he said, "We have to face the truth that international money for AIDS control will gradually leave China and to prepare ourselves to deal with that." How much money will China have received from Global Fund by the end of this year ?
$818 $548 $ 270 $723