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Money Down the Rat Hole

But it’s not about actually helping.

In the last two decades, the world has spent more than $196 billion trying to save people from death and disease in poor countries.

Millions of people are now protected against diseases like yellow fever, sleeping under anti-malaria bed nets and taking AIDS drugs.

But there isn’t much proof that pricey programs led by the United Nations and its partners are responsible, according to two studies published Friday in the medical journal, Lancet.

It’s about feeling better about ourselves… and, of course, this. 

U.N. agencies, universities and others working on public health routinely take from 2 to 50 percent of a donation for “administrative purposes” before it goes to needy countries.

Others said there is little incentive for health officials to commission an independent evaluation to find out what their programs have achieved.

“The public health community has convinced the public the only way to improve poor health in developing countries is by throwing a ton of money at it,” Stevens said. “It is perhaps not coincidental that thousands of highly paid jobs and careers are also dependent on it.”

Posted by Owen at 2037 hrs
Foreign Affairs + Politics + Politics - General

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