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Agence France Presse, Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Feb 13, 2004
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KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine slammed the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis
and Malaria for cutting off funding to three AIDS organizations here for
alleged inefficiency.
The government said it would provide four million dollars (3.1 million
euros) to provide care to 2,000 adults and 100 children with AIDS. Ukraine
has an estimated 62,000 people with AIDS or the HIV virus that causes the
disease.
The global fund said, however, that fewer than 60 people were receiving AIDS
treatment. It said that it has disbursed 7.5 million dollars, but that only
740,000 dollars of this had actually been spent.
The fund announced January 30 that it was halting its contributions because
Ukraine "lags substantially behind its targets to prevent the spread of HIV
(news - web sites) and provide treatment to people living with the virus.
The fund, a public-private partnership that has disbursed more than 2
billion dollars in assistance, has approved three grants totaling more than
25 million dollars to Ukraine, but these are given subject to performance.
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An AIDS symbol made from balloons is released into the skies
by the Independence column in downtown Kiev
(AFP/File/Sergei Supinsky)
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It said it was halting payments to give Ukraine "the opportunity to address
concerns of slow implementation, management and governance issues." The
deputy health minister, Olha Lapuchenko, said the allegations were "baseless
and partial."
The government said the cut affects national programs run by the health
ministry, by a non-government AIDS program and by the UN development
program.
Lapuchenko said Ukraine would return to the global fund the money it has not
yet spent, and said she hoped that a compromise could be found to enable to
the financing to resume.
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
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