Tackling the humanitarian challenges posed by climate change and HIV/AIDS will be the two top priorities of the Inter Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 2007, the agency said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Geneva-based agency appealed for 285 million U.S. dollars to fund its activities in 2007.

It said that more money would be spent on disaster preparedness and risk reduction in response to the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters linked to climate change.

In 2004, the agency responded to 63 floods worldwide. That number jumped to 137 last year. This alarming trend was most visible in Africa, where the number of floods rose from five in 2004 to 32 in 2006, the statement said.

The 2007 appeal also reflected the agency's increased commitment to combating HIV/AIDS, which is likely to kill more people in the coming decade than all the wars and disasters over the past 50 years, it added.

"HIV has destroyed the very fabric of communities in many sub-Saharan countries and is on the increase across Asia and Eastern Europe," said Mukesh Kapila, the agency's special representative for HIV and AIDS.

"We must not let this virus do to Asia or any other continent what it has done in sub-Saharan Africa. That would be unforgivable," Kapila said in the statement.

Editor: Donald