PartnersGF -2005-04-19

Comment: "Indian Government Bureaucracies Kill Off People Living with AIDS"
Dinesh Garodia
**************

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have failed to understand the logic and the logistics that are applied by the Global Fund to distribute grants.

According to us the logic should be the purpose for which the fund was set up 'containment if not eradication of TB, AIDS, Malaria'.

The logistics involved should have been the monitoring of the projects funded from the initial to the ultimate stage and its virtual impact at the ground level. The fact that in most developing countries (and even the well developed one's) funds are rarely used for the purpose they are meant for unless there are checks and measures in place to monitor the deployment of the funds at the grass root level.

True it is that the Global Fund is doling out grants by the billions but the fact that most of it may not be reaching the purpose for which it was granted cannot be wished away. The example of India cited in the message with regards to HIV, "For example in India, a country with one of the largest HIV epidemics in the world, despite Global Fund 2-year commitments for HIV alone totaling $51,946,000 and approximately $5,543,000 already disbursed, no Global Fund money has been spent on antiretroviral treatment," is one of the examples.

CCM's are not the end of the world and neither are they flawless, they are in fact part of the system that has allowed the epidemics to progress and prosper in most cases. Let us highlight the plight of Malarial epidemic in the eastern part of India, which is certified by WHO as the most malaria prone zone. Save and except declaring the same as such and putting coloured notations on the map of India nothing has been done by either the local or the Global community. It may not be out of place to place on record the fact that there is hardly any reporting method in place for malarial incidents and all that is available is governmental records. These are the records beneath which lie the fact that hardly 3% of the population has access to govt. health care centers and moreover one's who can afford the private sector do not go there.

Last but not the least is the fact that India is cited as the country with highest number of HIV epidemics but does anyone have even an approximate idea of the numbers? Has any effort been made? Are we aware as to how this is treated at the grass root levels? One can go on.

How is it that the funds granted to India go into The Department of Economic Affairs of the Govt. of India and why are the funds not being granted to NGO's and Societies who do work at the grass root levels.

Suffice it will to state that the Global Fund has been set up with noble ideas but is lost in the global rush for grants without having the requisite time or the inclination to ascertain for certain how the grants granted have been utilized.

We do appreciate and endorse the issues raised by PartnersGF and strongly feel that the funds need to be deployed in a more transparent manner and the focus should remain the epidemics for which the fund was setup.

We are a society which has malaria containment as its sole and soul objective. We will appreciate any and every detail and assistance in our stance to fight malaria.

Thanking you in advance

Best Regards

Dinesh Garodia
Subhas Chandra Bose Health & Education Society,
Calcutta India
Email: dinesh@navneet.net