(SBT24/7News) A partnership between the Indiana University School of Medicine and a hospital in Kenya has received a $60 million, five-year grant to help fight HIV/AIDS.

The grant was announced in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi Monday, IU announced.

The AMPATH program currently offers care to 52,000 patients with HIV in Kenya, one of many African nations hit hard by the disease. The new funding, part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, will expand services for an additional 150,000 people.

"As a Hoosier, I am proud that IU has taken a leadership role in caring for our African neighbors with HIV," said Dr. Robert Einterz in a statement.

Einterz, dean for international affairs at the IU School of Medicine, will coordinate efforts between IU and its Kenyan counterparts at the Moi University School of Medicine and its associated hospital.

In addition to HIV/AIDS treatment, including antiretroviral drugs, AMPATH offers counseling to decrease disease transmission.

The IU partnership also hopes to care for up to 20,000 orphans and at-risk Kenyan children within the first two years of the grant, and to treat tuberculosis, which is often found in those infected with HIV/AIDS.

Kenya had a 6.1 percent HIV infection rate in 2005, the last year for which numbers are provided by the government. More than a million AIDS orphans live there.

The U.S. AIDS relief effort was launched in 2003 and includes Kenya among 15 focus countries. Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar is sponsoring legislation to renew the global AIDS relief effort and increase total funding.