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As UNICEF Drugs Are Resold in Sierra Leone and Its
Holiday Cards Are Misrun, Little Oversight
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 26 -- Medicine and
mosquito nets given free by the UN system to the government of Sierra
Leone has
reappeared
for sale in Free Town. The abuse is widespread. Inner City Press on
November 25 asked UN spokesperson Michele Montas if Ban Ki-moon or his
envoy on
malaria Ray Chambers have any comment, any plans to address this
re-sale of UN
aid. First let's see if it's true, Ms
Montas said. But it has been captured on film, by the BBC's Panorama
program,
summarized here.
In
the first
instance, Inner City Press asked UNICEF for an answer, and got this
Hi Matthew, Just for your info, I
think it is important to note - a) it is the Government that
distributes
products, b) that UNICEF does conduct monitoring and requests action...
"Cotrimoxazole is on the
essential medicines list of most countries and is one of the products
in
highest demand from UNICEF. It is a well-tolerated and cost-effective
life-saving intervention for children living with HIV or who have been
exposed
to HIV. To help save the lives of
children in Sierra Leone, UNICEF provides supplies of nets and drugs to
the
Government for distribution.
"The Government provides
quarterly reports on health programme implementation and UNICEF
regularly
conducts spot-check monitoring of distribution. If irregularities are
uncovered, UNICEF informs the Government and it takes action...
"It is unrealistic to expect
that all of the drugs and nets we provide will be used for the purpose
for
which they are intended... Where we have information
about large-scale leakage from our programmes, we investigate and take
action."
But what action has been taken in this case?
Contrast
this well-crafted answer, though, with the underlying report, here.
There is a
need for the head of the UN system, Ban Ki-moon or at least his Malaria
Envoy
Ray Chambers, to speak and act on the resale for profit
of UNICEF-granted drugs in Sierra
Leone.
UNICEF's Veneman, with France's Kouchner,
Sierra Leone resales and holiday card snafus not shown
UNICEF also recently
answered Inner City Press'
question about its auditors' criticism of the use of holiday card sale
proceeds, to
"Please provide UNICEF's
comment / response on deadline to para 42 from
A/63/474, that '[a]t UNICEF, the
Board observed that some National Committees were retaining up to 100
per cent
of the gross proceeds from the sale of greeting card products even
though rule
9.04 of the special supplement to the UNICEF Financial Regulations and
Rules
states that they may be authorized to retain only up to 25 per cent of
such
sales. The Advisory Committee concurs with the Board that UNICEF should
ensure
that the 25 per cent retention limit is applied and that, if necessary,
UNICEF
should evaluate and formalize any exceptions to the rule.'"
Inner City
Press asked, "what is UNICEF's response, what is UNICEF doing in
response?"
Subsequently the following was received:
Hi Matthew, Here's an
answer re the Greeting Cards.
"In 2007, the UNICEF
greeting card business generated sales of $ 156 million and made a net
contribution to UNICEF programmes of $ 61 million, a healthy 39%
operating
margin, comparing favourably to the industry average of 4% to 8%.
As with
all consumer-product businesses, there are costs associated with the
sale of
UNICEF greeting cards. These include direct selling and marketing
costs,
production and manufacturing, logistics, and distribution.
"In some markets, UNICEF has
recently faced increased competitive pressure coupled with market
contraction.
This has resulted in lower than expected sales and higher than expected
selling costs. In these markets, UNICEF and the relevant
National
Committees are presently reviewing alternative distribution models to
improve
the cost to sales ratio and improved levels of
profitability."
Despite
UNICEF's spokesman's always erudite answers, one wonders if "the
relevant
National
Committees" include UNICEF
Germany, faced earlier this year with
scandal which UNICEF
also minimized, at least initially. We await Ban Ki-moon's
views and action on the sale for profit of UNICEF-given drugs in Sierra
Leone.
Working for
children is laudable, but oversight is needed. This can appear to be
lacking at
UNICEF, witness not only the above but also the UN's reticence to
openly
criticize UNICEF's
chief's granting of the UN's North Lawn to Madonna and a
Kabbalah-affiliated
charity earlier this year. UNICEF's chief has yet to hold a press
conference with
Q&A in UN headquarters since then.
Footnote: And now
some observers of both the UN and
United States political scenes opine that the top position at UNICEF
may soon
be in for a change to be believed in...
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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