LUSAKA, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Zambia has been endorsed as having the best practice among African countries in disbursing money fromthe Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's chief AIDS funding organization, local newspaper Daily Mail reported Saturday.

    At the just-ended 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok,Thailand, the Zambian government was lauded for its manner of Global Fund disbursements, and the Zambian National AIDS Network (ZNAN) and the Christian Health Association of Zambia were also cited as good examples in the fund distribution, Rosemary Musonda,acting director of the Zambian National AIDS Council, was quoted as saying.

    While denying media reports that ZNAN was perceived not to be trusted with the funds, Musonda said nongovernmental organization (NGO) networks such as ZNAN would play a vital role financially and technically in supporting anti-AIDS activities in the south African country.

    Currently 16 percent of the Zambian adult population aged 15 to49 years are HIV positive. The pandemic is estimated to be killing171,000 people annually in the country.

    The Zambian government received 297 million US dollars from theglobal fund early this month to combat HIV/AIDS and Malaria for a period of five years.

    Zambian Health Minister Brian Chituwo said about 13.4 million dollars would be released as the first batch for HIV/AIDS programsin the country, and the disbursement from the global fund will help improve the procurement of anti-retroviral drugs. Enditem