The Global Fund, an organization set up to fight epidemic diseases, will provide $42 million to help North Korea fight tuberculosis and malaria, according to the Voice of America on Friday.

In an email sent to the VOA on Thursday (US time), the Global Fund said it has agreed with Pyongyang over the financial support, and it began to make the payment of the fund to the North.

The Switzerland-headquartered Global Fund has provided more than $100 million to North Korea to help cure those diagnosed with tuberculosis and malaria since 2010.

The organization stopped delivering funds to the North in 2018, citing lack of transparency in the use of the funds and suspected effectiveness of the funds. But it approved the resumption of support in September last year. (Yonhap)