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Some Fisheries , doing fishing activities using Mosquito net.
The Times - UK
By Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor
24 July 2015
Mosquito
nets provided by British taxpayers to fight malaria are being used to
make wedding dresses. Impoverished, hungry villagers are also using the
insecticide-coated mesh to build
chicken coops, catch fish and strain bananas. Some put the nets around
anthills to catch white ants, a traditional snack.
The
financing body, The Global Fund To Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and
Malaria, claims to have distributed 548 million nets to stop the deadly
disease but the problem of misuse has become
so serious that some African countries have threatened to jail
offenders.
The
troubles are a long way from the organisation’s base in Geneva, where
it is paying $13 million a year to lease offices. It has commissioned a
showpiece, architect-designed headquarters
with a 360-space car park in the Swiss city.
Little
more than 18 months ago, the fund was lavished with hundreds of
millions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money by Whitehall officials
keen to meet David Cameron’s target of spending
0.7 per cent of annual national income on aid. It is the sort of figure
that might make ordinary eyes water.
The
global fund was created in 2001 by G8 leaders including Tony Blair, who
has become a multimillionaire since stepping down as prime minister. It
has also gained support from entertainers
such as U2’s Bono and Carla Bruni, the musician and wife of Nicolas
Sarkozy, the former president of France.
a
conRather than providing health services directly, it funnels money to
selected organisations that work in afflicted countries. Mosquito nets
have been chosen as a key weapon against
malaria since they are said to halve the risk of infection in children.
In
Uganda, where the disease is the country’s main killer, taking 4,000
lives a year, the fund has helped to provide 21 million nets for almost
complete coverage. Yet even when the
British high commissioner, Alison Blackburne, presented the guards to
President Museveni in a ceremony marking Britain’s financial
contribution, the risk of them going astray was appreciated.
“It’s
a shame that people are misusing mosquito nets to trap white ants and
as fish nets,” the president said. “Those doing this should know that
Luzira [maximum security prison] still
has space.” In Lake Tanganyika, surrounded by four African nations,
mosquito nets have been used for fishing so extensively that stocks are
feared threatened. The fine mesh catches fry before they can breed.
A
study on the Tanzanian lake shores last year found that many villagers
used mosquito nets for fishing even though they knew it was illegal.
Malaria
rates among children in the region have stuck at the high rate of 26
per cent since 2007, suggesting that the widespread distribution of nets
has failed to have the desired
effect. The operators of a floating clinic there have said they are
troubled by the health risk to villagers drinking lake water containing
the nets’ insecticide, which is carcinogenic. The pesticide is highly
toxic to aquatic life, although 12 million people
depend on fish from the lake as their main source of protein.
The Department for International Development trebled Britain’s donations to the global fund.
An
inquiry report by the National Audit Office said Mr Cameron’s 0.7 per
cent “target was a consideration when the department decided on the
size” of its pledge.
A spokesman for the department defended the decision to give money quickly.
“It
decided that front-loading its contribution would have a number of
policy benefits,” he said. “These included: enabling the global fund to
accelerate activity and results; maintaining
UK leadership; and increasing the chances of leveraging in larger
contributions from other donors.”
The
global fund had faced a grave money shortage in 2011 amid reports of
infighting and concerns about fraud. When the House of Commons
international development select committee held
an inquiry, Jeremy Lefroy MP, chairman of the all-party parliamentary
group on malaria and neglected tropical diseases, expressed concerns
about the distribution of medicines and nets. He said that in some
countries “the drugs are stockpiled in the capital
cities”.
He added: “They may have been paid for through the global fund but they are not being used effectively.”
Gabriel
Jaramillo, a distinguished banker brought in as temporary general
manager to rescue the fund, told MPs: “With enough will and resources,
we could potentially end malaria as
a public health problem by 2015.”
A
spokesman for the global fund told The Times: “Malaria is still a
public health problem. It is endemic in 97 countries, causing nearly 200
million cases.”
There
are still 584,000 deaths a year from malaria. The spokesman said:
“Gabriel Jaramillo was a skilled financial turnaround manager, not a
public health expert. In that instance he
misspoke.”
On his departure, Mr Jaramillo warned the fund that its governance procedures were inadequate.
The
fund spokesman said malaria net misuse was often caused by poverty and
worries about food. He said: “In poor areas, people will sometimes use
whatever is available for multiple
purposes. Net distribution campaigns are accompanied by education about
malaria, and how to use nets properly.”
A
Department for International Development spokesman said mosquito nets
had made a tremendous impact in the fight against malaria.
“The
fund has robust systems in place to ensure they are used as intended,
including regular spot checks,” he said. “We have seen no evidence of
systematic misuse.”
Mr
Lefroy told The Times the fund had made considerable improvements and
he urged other countries to pay their pledged donations.
An
internal investigation into the organisation’s grants to Nigeria showed
the country’s National Malaria Control Programme submitted at least 73
fictitious airline ticket claims and
bought overpriced vehicles and computers. The Society for Family
Health, which works with Nigeria’s poor, overcharged the fund for
426,000 mosquito nets.
Such
largesse does not appear to have dampened the comforts of Geneva,
however. In 2010, the fund entered into a contract with a property
developer, promising to lease most of the space
in a new £67 million building to be known as the Health Campus. The
fund spokesman said the new building would reduce its rent and utilities
costs from $13 million to $7.5 million a year; or as they might say in
Whitehall, small enough for Britain to pay 113
times over.
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