There are concerns that a global health fund is plagued by corrupt practices that may have resulted in more than 60 percent of some grants from the fund being misused or stolen. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was created in 2002 and offers assistance to 150 countries. It is a charity darling for many prominent business people and celebrities including U2 lead singer Bono and Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft. Many consumers have contributed to the fund by purchasing (RED) products—a portion of the proceeds from these items goes into the fund. A report from the Associated Press reveals that shoddy accounting and improper documentation allowed the corruption to occur.
The fund recently gave more authority to its oversight office, and it was the fund’s own inspector general, John Parsons, who discovered the malfeasance. The fund has nearly $22 billion in its coffers for healthcare programs and services related to the three diseases specified in the fund’s name. Countries where there allegedly were problems with how grant money from the fund was spent include Zambia, Mauritania, Djibouti, and Mali. For now, the fund has stopped payments to countries such as these where there appear to be problems with corruption.
Criticism of the fund is coming from all corners of the globe. A congressional office that investigates allegations of corruption has urged the fund to do a better job of overseeing how its grants are being spent. Government officials in Sweden have issued statements of concern about the fund and its oversight mechanisms.
The global health fund came about after countries and donors found the United Nations process of distributing aid to be too slow and demanding. The fund is supposed to be an answer to that critique, though it appears it may have been too lax in its standards in dealing with the funds and the countries that received them.
