Tanzania: AIDS – Dealing with the misuse of donor funds
By Elias Mhegera – DIVERTING and abuse of donor funds is a common problem in Africa and many other parts of the world. This was revealed recently during the International AIDS 2012 Conference.
Dr Fatma Mrisho the Executive Director of the Tanzania Commission for Aids (TACAIDS).
Dr Fatma Mrisho, the Executive Director of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), was asked how one deals with what this problem does and her answer was “it is through continuous advocacy and some prayers”.
This answer reflects that even Tanzania has not been able to deal properly with the problem of misuse of donor funds. Several times and in various forums it has been explained that such funds do not reach the targeted people.
The conference to discuss the challenges to tackle new infections was conducted in Washington DC and Dr Mrisho was one of the panelists.
Tanzanians and other foreign dignitaries were invited to view a recorded session and later on experts were allowed to answer questions in response to the presentation.
The event was conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the National Institute of Medical Research on Wednesday last week.
Other presenters at the Washington DC event were Dr Mariangela Simao, from Switzerland, Deborah von Zinkernagel, the United States, Raymond Yekeye, Zimbabwe and Marieke van Schaik, Netherlands.
The moderator at the Washington DC event was Alvaro Bermejo.
