AIDS Fund Sees New Conditions Set on Donor Money

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is under increasing pressure to dedicate a portion of the money it receives toward improving grant management and spending, officials said Friday. Donors stipulated that financial controls must be tightened after an internal investigation by the Global Fund found a portion of grant monies had been lost.

“You have quite a few donors that have earmarked portions of their donations to us, their contributions, to capacity-building,” said Gabriel Jaramillo, the fund’s general manager. A nearly $2.9 billion pledge France is scheduled to finalize this month requires that 5 percent be spent on tightening financial accountability among grant recipients, he said.

In the previous year, the Global Fund inspector general’s office discovered that tens of millions of dollars had been lost due to corruption, undocumented expenses, and other misspending. Jaramillo was a member of an external review panel created last year and tasked with addressing oversight issues.

“It was a year of reflection,” said Jaramillo, who in February was pulled out of retirement for a one-year appointment to assuage donor concerns, spearhead financial reforms, and streamline the fund.

Germany, which last year withheld its donation to the fund amid the turmoil, now has contributed €50 million (US $65 million) - the first quarter of its pledge for this year, Jaramillo said. He reiterated his commitment to maintaining transparency by posting audits and investigative reports, even when doing so brings negative publicity.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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