Former US president Bill Clinton met AIDS patients in two provinces in China and expressed happiness at the progress made by the HIV/AIDS treatment programmes sponsored by the his foundation.

Clinton, who is on a private visit to Henan in central China and Yunnan in the southwest, interacted with a number of AIDS patients Thursday.

In the morning, he met children in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan. He praised the provincial government for their efforts and achievements in combating HIV/AIDS.

Henan, severely hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, was the first province in China to receive drugs from the Clinton Foundation, according to Ruby Shang, director of the foundation's China office.

The Clinton Foundation has been providing financial and technical support for a series of HIV/AIDS treatment programmes in the province since 2004.

Clinton also flew to Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, where he met AIDS patients in a hospital and joined them for dinner.

Yunnan signed a three-year cooperative programme in June this year with the Clinton Foundation. The programme aims to deliver high-quality care and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients in areas like Dali, Gejiu, Kaiyuan and Lincang.

"These projects are going on very well, I think you just need to extend it, keep serving more people," he told the medical staff at local hospitals.

The registered HIV/AIDS cases in Yunnan in 2004 were 28,391.