SANTO DOMINGO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States has donated 634,000 U.S. dollars in a new bid to help the Dominican Republic fight HIV/AIDS, the government said Friday.

The funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (Usaid) will be dispensed in eight agreements with various local non-governmental organizations, with those living in extreme poverty as the initiative's main beneficiaries, the Public Health Ministry said in a statement.

The aid package will be focused on enforcing prevention and treatment programs in the country's eastern and northern regions, as well as in the region bordering Haiti, it added.