Squabble over Global Fund money threatens ARV access

A row between NGOs involved in the fight against HIV in Kenya could result in the country losing out on money from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.



A group of NGOs under the umbrella group, the Kenya Consortium to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is accusing one of the Fund's principal recipients in Kenya, CARE International, of being too slow to release money it was allocated.



"We are concerned that while the Global Fund has done its part by disbursing US$4,735,494 to CARE International Kenya in March this year, the pace of implementation has become an issue of great concern," the consortium said in a letter to the National AIDS Control Council (NACC).



"We believe that if this is not addressed quickly, it could negatively impact on future rounds and even our ability to source funding for HIV and AIDS elsewhere," it added. 



The consortium says that unless the money is utilized and accounted for by November, the Fund is unlikely to release the next allocation for HIV programmes.



However, CARE International's country director, Stephen Vaughan, says his organization has been releasing funds to groups that have accounted for previous allocations.



"We cannot release funds to those who have not accounted for funds already given to them," Vaughan said at a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on 6 October. "Let them provide clear accounts on how they spent the money already given out to them."

We cannot release funds to those who have not accounted for funds already given to them

He noted that of 58 civil society groups that receive funding from the Global Fund through CARE International, only 26 had met the Fund's accounting criteria.



AIDS activists are concerned that access to treatment could be affected if the row continues and the Global Fund does not release the next allotment of money in November.



"This is unfortunate, because the information we have is that the ARVs in stock at the moment will not last long," said James Kamau, coordinator of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement. "It is sad because it is the ordinary people who suffer in such circumstances."



The NACC has convened a meeting on 9 October to try to resolve the situation.



The Global Fund is one of Kenya's main supporters in the fight against HIV, having provided more than $87 million for prevention, treatment and activities related to improving the quality of life of people living with HIV.



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