Zimbabwe could lose HIV/AIDS funding

HOPES for further HIV/AIDS funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have been dashed by revelation that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had failed to account for US$7.3 million meant for fighting the killer diseases.

The Global Fund has now instituted the Additional Safeguards Policy (ASP) on Zimbabwe for failing to account for grant funds.

The Fund’s Board is meeting today (November 7) in New Delhi (India) to consider Zimbabwe’s new proposals. It has the responsibility of endorsing the technical panel’s decision. It is now not clear whether Zimbabwe’s bid will be endorsed and further funds released.

Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine ordered that funds under its administration in Zimbabwe be placed under the ASP, which aims to ensure that funding is used for its intended purpose and not to benefit the government.

“We would like to stress that the Global Fund will not sign any future grants for Zimbabwe until we are satisfied that our funds are safe. Indeed, I consider that no Board-approved grants should be signed in a country that is currently audited or under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General until the audit or investigation is completed and conditions for confidence in continued Global Fund financing are met and all necessary steps to satisfy Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendations are implemented.

“In addition, I have determined that Zimbabwe 's grants should be placed under the Additional Safeguards Policy,” read part of Kazatchkine’s statement released ahead of the Global Fund's board meeting today.

The central bank has been forced to repay the US$7.3 million after an audit revealed that funds had been misdirected. The Global Fund says $7.3 million of the $12.3 million it deposited into its Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe account last year did not go to fight the three diseases.

When asked whether Zimbabwe's government has misused millions of dollars meant to fight AIDS and other diseases, Kazatchkine said the group has no evidence of fraud.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has sent a letter to the Global Fund promising to return the money by next week, Kazatchkine said, adding that "patients and people cannot be taken hostage" in the dispute.

Until 2007, the aid agency channeled health care funds to Zimbabwe through local banks, which transferred money to agencies carrying out health programs, Kazatchkine said.

However, in 2007, the fund decided to buy drugs from outside Zimbabwe as the country's economic crisis worsened with hyperinflation, he said.

Since some operations needed to be funded in Zimbabwe, some funds were left with local banks, which the country's Reserve Bank confiscated last year, according to Kazatchkine. Zimbabwe's central bank already has returned $5 million of the seized $12 million, he said.

Zimbabwe was set to receive US$500 million this year from the Global Fund in a new round of applications after the country submitted proposals which were approved by the Fund’s Technical Review Panel.

Zimbabwe has now been blacklisted for failing to release the funds. Other countries blacklisted by the Fund include the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Myanmar, Cuba and Sudan.