Crossposted from Nature’s news blog

In a hard-hitting 152-page report released today, a high-level panel charged with reviewing the financial management of the multibillion dollar Global Fund to fight against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has called for profound reform of the fund.

The panel, co-chaired by Festus Mogae, former president of Botswana, and Michael Leavitt, a former US Health Secretary, was commissioned by the Global Fund in March amid concern over recent prominent cases of corruption and fraudulent diversion of its grants in recipient countries (see Nature Editorial: “”https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v470/n7332/full/470006a.html “>Tough on truth” and our blog posts at the time: “”https://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/01/corruption_in_global_disease_f_1.html">Corruption in global disease fund and Corruption at the Global Fund: part 2).

The fund raises and disburses billions of dollars on drugs, as well as measures such as bednets to control insects’ spread of disease. The report gave the fund high marks for the huge impact it has had in curtailing disease, saving millions of lives since its creation in 2002. It also notes that the fund has made major improvements in oversight over the years, but says that these are insufficient, and that a major overhaul is needed, not just at the fund headquarters, but also of the way funds are controlled at the country level. The report includes pages of detailed recommendations for improved auditing and management of funds, and how the fund does business with its country partners.

Continue reading on Nature’s news blog.