UNAIDS Endorses Zambian, Zimbabwean Proposal To Stop Direct Funding to NGOs
UNAIDS on Friday endorsed a proposal by officials from Zambia and Zimbabwe that would prevent funding from going directly to nongovernmental agencies in some African countries, Reuters/Independent Online reports. Officials from Zambia and Zimbabwe said that funding no longer should be channeled through NGOs because the organizations "lac[k] accountability," according to Reuters/Independent Online. "AIDS money will no longer be given to NGOs ... This is what the countries have proposed and it has been endorsed," Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which is the current chair of UNAIDS, said after a two-day conference on accelerating the fight against AIDS in Africa. Matsuura said the funding instead will be channeled through each government's central AIDS authority. Matsuura added that officials from Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia also support the proposal, saying that the proposal will be introduced in those countries as well. NGOs on Saturday said that the move would hurt the countries' fight against HIV/AIDS, Reuters/Independent Online reports. "The consequences of this retrogressive move will be grave to the fight against AIDS. There is too much bureaucracy in government institutions," Clement Mufuzi, national coordinator for the Zambian Network of People Living with HIV, said (Shacinda, Reuters/Independent Online, 3/6).
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