[afro-nets] New resources on HIV and AIDS questions for development from IDS (2)

["Peter Burgess" <profitinafrica@gmail.com>]

New resources on HIV and AIDS questions for development from IDS (2)
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Dear Colleagues

Thank you for drawing our attention to the HIV AIDS crisis, and the upcoming meeting in Toronto, and the various documents that are being written in preparation for this event. I did a quick read of the IDS Policy Briefing, but honestly, I am really not quite sure why this was written and what it tells us that we did not know (many times) before.

It does question how HIV AIDS will affect development ... it is nicely written ... and I am sure UNAIDS that funded the effort will be happy. But the lack of numbers really bothers me ... the only number in the whole thing is in the first paragraph where it states 40 million people are now living with HIV. Nothing else, no other numbers at all, not even page numbers!

How on earth there can be successful policy making when the foundation documents ignore all numbers. I believe AIDS has had more funding than any other single area in relief and development history, yet the leaders of the sub-sector are moaning about the shortage of funds. When push comes to shove, however, nobody anywhere in the sector seems to be able to tell me how much was spent and what results have been achieved as a result of the spending. It seems that accounting is not a serious function in the HIV AIDS fund flow arena ... God's gift to the greedy and corrupt who have thrived mightily on top of these wonderful fund flows. Is this an issue? You bet it is ... but the relief and development experts and the academic institutions involved in training new generations of experts do not get it. It does not matter how big the fund flows are if the funds are used in ways that don't deliver results, or worse, are simply stolen.

No wonder progress has been a lot less than we hoped a few years back. It is a chronic shame ... sustaining what is essentially genocide.

Peter

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Peter Burgess
Transparency and Accountability Network
Tr-Ac-Net Inc in New York 212 772 6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com