The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said Wednesday that countries are in charge of deciding how to use its funding, and that country delegations to international meetings are decided by governments themselves, after a group of African parliamentarians alleged the fund has neglected them and only uses them for fundraising purposes.
According to a report by Health Policy Watch, Neema Lugangira, a member of parliament from Tanzania, said the Global Fund asked her to make a funding appeal video to the U.K. for its seventh replenishment campaign, but the fund did not invite her to its seventh replenishment conference hosted by the U.S. government in New York.
“Don’t just use us when it suits you,” Lugangira was quoted as saying during an event in Lisbon this week.
In an email response to Devex regarding the allegations, a Global Fund spokesperson said, “A central tenet of the Global Fund is country ownership, and the Country Coordinating Mechanism brings together stakeholders … to prioritize and plan how funds will be used.”
The composition of the country coordinating mechanism, or CCM — which plays a central role in funding requests and grant implementation oversight — is also decided by countries and usually convened by a government minister, according to the spokesperson.
Country delegations to Global Fund meetings are decided by governments as well.
“In the case of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment the delegation from Tanzania was led by His Excellency Dr Philip Isdor Mpango, Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania,” the spokesperson said.
Another member of parliament from Zimbabwe, Ruth Labode, also said CCMs fund civil society and other sectors to attend meetings, but not parliamentarians.
“And yet, when the time comes for replenishment, they are quick to find parliamentarians to lobby for their purpose,” she said.
The Global Fund spokesperson said the fund is a worldwide partnership and parliamentarians “are essential for building and sustaining the political will needed to ensure prioritization of health funding despite competing needs and significant fiscal challenges,” and that engaging them is a “very high priority” for the fund.
However, how CCMs operate is under the the “purview of the country itself and is not decided by the Global Fund,” according to the spokesperson, adding that any specific questions on how Global Fund funding is utilized should be directed to the government.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
