The executive board of the U.N. Population Fund last week approved a five-year, $27 million program to fund HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive health services, Agence France-Press reports. The aid for 2006-2010 will target 30 Chinese counties that have tried to improve services and give reproductive freedoms to clients (Agence France-Presse, 1/30). The 10 European nations that provide the majority of UNFPA's funding -- Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland -- in a statement said, "UNFPA's activities in China ... are in strict conformity with the unanimously adopted Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and play a key role in supporting our common endeavor, the promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms" (UNFPA release, 1/30). The Group of 77, an alliance of 132 developing countries, also endorsed UNFPA's work in China, saying, "The program has contributed to the improvement of reproductive health and family planning services, strengthened the capacity of family planning workers and has enhanced the access of women to quality services and informed choices" (Agence France-Presse, 1/30).

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