Seattle Times Examines How U.S. Funding for Non-Profit Providing HIV/AIDS Drugs in Africa Was Cut Following Reports of Fraud By Subcontractors

Seattle Times reports on how the Washington-based nonprofit Health Alliance International (HAI), which is working to expand HIV/AIDS treatments in Africa, was recently forced to cut its Seattle and Africa staff after the group's application for a $100 million grant with USAID was rejected in August following reports of possible fraud by subcontractors working for HAI. The article describes the history of the HAI and its dependence on the U.S. government for "all but 7 percent of its funding," which "grew steadily to employ about 40 people at its Seattle headquarters last year and about 1,000 people in Mozambique, most through the Ministry of Health. Its budget was about $21 million in 2009 but will drop to about $7 million this year," the newspaper writes. The article notes USAID's emphasis on strengthening accountability and the efforts by HAI to investigate the findings of the internal audit that exposed "irregularities" by a local NGO in Mozambique that provided home-based care and delivery of medical kits (Heim, 2/1).

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