Japan has given more than five million dollars aid to help Yemen fight tuberculosis, the Yemeni ministry for planning and development announced. "Japan has provided Yemen with financial assistance of $5.2 million to finance the purchase of medical equipment for the health ministry fight against tuberculosis in the various regions of the country," the planning ministry said in a statement reported by the official SABA news agency.
It said Japan has recently given around $4.5 million to finance nine hospitals in different parts of the country, and had also helped Yemen build three anti-tuberculosis centers. Japan is one of the main providers of help to Yemen, which is one of the world's poorest countries.
At the end of August, Tokyo gave Sanaa $1.4 million to help relaunch its economy, and in March it gave four million dollars to improve its infant health service. Yemen announced in November 1999 that it had received 17 gifts worth more than $66 million since January 1997.
Yemen is currently operating a program of economic structural reforms recommended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which includes cutting state subsidies, privatizing state businesses and cleaning up the administration. — (AFP, Sanaa)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
