MALARIA: The Global Fund's response to drug theft

GLOBAL FUND OBSERVER (GFO), an independent newsletter about the Global Fund provided by Aidspan: Issue 138: 24 January 2011


Kazatchkine and Parsons said that the Global Fund has zero tolerance for theft or fraud, and that, "contrary to Mr Bate's claims, the Fund is acknowledged (by the U.S. and other governments) to have one of the most rigorous mechanisms to uncover and tackle fraud and to recover stolen funds." Kazatchkine and Parsons said that the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) "is at the forefront of the international community" in addressing drug theft, diversion and counterfeiting.
Concerning Togo, Kazatchkine and Parsons said that the Deputy Director of CAMEG "and his accomplices" were involved in the misappropriation of malaria drugs worth $849,832 and that when alerted to suspicions of this theft, the Togolese Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) took swift action. In addition, the government of Togo promised to compensate the Global Fund for the missing drugs, and has already repaid most of the amounts involved. "It is ultimately the Togolese tax payer who will pay for this theft, not international donors," said Kazatchkine and Parsons. "While the theft is despicable, it is not a reason to withdraw continued support for the country's efforts to fight malaria, since the entire population should not be punished for the actions of a handful of bad people."
Just as important, Kazatchkine and Parsons said, the thefts have spurred the Togolese government to analyse weaknesses in its drug distribution system and to strengthen the system, such that the risk of theft in future has been greatly diminished.
Kazatchkine and Parsons said that the solution to drug theft in developing countries is to work with countries and their partners to ensure that existing systems include appropriate safeguards. "To imply, as Mr Bate does, that only foreign oversight can secure drug distribution is an affront to the vast majority of honest, hardworking pharmacists, doctors and nurses who are successfully and conscientiously delivering drugs to patients in many countries around the world."
In its latest progress report to the Global Fund Board, reported on in GFO 137, the OIG said that it had also received reports of organised thefts of anti-malarial drugs in Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire.
Several months ago, Bate wrote an article on this topic in the journal Research and Reports in Tropical Medicines, in which he said that the problem also affects aid programmes at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). See "Report Renews Concerns About Stolen Malaria Medicines" in GFO 131.

Editor's note: The Global Fund is planning to convene a meeting in the near future bringing together major international funders of drug supplies to developing countries, technical and law enforcement agencies and implementers of health programmes to intensify joint efforts to prevent theft of medicines.