New Delhi, Feb. 27 -- The United States and Congo signed a $1.2 billion health partnership Thursday, the two countries' governments said in a joint statement.

The Department of State said it will provide up to $900 million over the next five years to support the Central African country to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child mortality, and other infectious diseases. Congo's government will commit to increasing its own domestic health expenditures by $300 million over the same period, according to the statement.

It is the latest agreement the U.S. has entered with more than a dozen African countries, many of them hit by U.S. aid cuts, including Congo.

U.S. aid cuts have crippled health systems across the developing ...