LILONGWE, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The U. S. government has doubled its financial support to Malawi's efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS scourge, bringing the funding to 45 million dollars every year.

    A statement issued Tuesday by the American Embassy in Malawi stated that the U. S. government had committed itself to double the HIV/AIDS financial support for the southern African country following the signing of new framework between the two governments.

    The statement said the framework was signed last month by American Ambassador to Malawi Peter Bodde and Malawi's Secretary to the Treasury, Randson Mwadiwa.

    "The new pact puts increased focus on reducing new HIV infections, while maintaining ongoing activities aimed at improving the quality of treatment and care and mitigating the impacts on individuals and households," said the American Embassy.

    Malawi has been making remarkable progress in availing free ARVs to HIV positive people. But the country is still faced with a challenge of keeping the people who have started taking the drugs alive. The country is attempting to address better health outcomes for people who are on treatment since 11 percent of adults die fifteen to eighteen months after initiating treatment because of late presentation for care.

    Malawi, like other southern African countries, has seen its life expectancy drop from about 60 years in the early 1990s to below 40 years presently due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.