UN Grants Mozambique $496 Million in AIDS Fight

The United Nations will grant Mozambique $496 million in aid over the next two years to boost the country's efforts to develop its economy, improve governance and fight against AIDS, an official said on Friday.

The southern African country is one of the poorest in the world, ranking 168 out of 177 in the U.N.'s Human Development Index.

Life expectancy is 35 years and an estimated 16 percent of Mozambique's 20 million people is infected with HIV.

U.N. communications officer in Mozambique Luis Zaqueu told Reuters the world body would give $156 million to develop human capital, $119 million on governance, $118 on economic development and $103 million to fight AIDS.

Half of Mozambique's 2007 budget of $2.8 billion is financed by donors helping the former Portuguese colony rebuild after decades of a civil war that ended in the 1990s.