Vulnerabilities can be found in both prevention and treatment programmes and corruption can contribute directly to infection when relatively low-cost measures, such as the use of sterile needles and the screening of blood donations, are ignored because corrupt procurement and distribution act as an obstacle to effective treatment. The sale of counterfeit medicines, the diversion of funds by ministries and national AIDS councils, and extortion of money by health workers in exchange for drugs and sterile equipment, are only a few examples of how corruption impedes the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The response to HIV/AIDS must involve an increase of funds available to purchase drugs, but scaling up budgets without paying due regard to anti-corruption mechanisms needed to ensure their proper use provides ample opportunity for corruption. For corrupt officials, rapidly expanding budgets offer greater scope to siphon off significant volumes without anyone noticing. This is especially true where health systems are fragile, lack monitoring and oversight, and where the capacity to channel the money effectively is limited.

Donors must ensure that funds are not only safeguarded against corruption, but that they do not lead to an increase in corruption levels or skew fiscal or institutional development. The risk of corruption can be lowered through better accountability arrangements and institutional strengthening. Tansparency is key: donors must be open and explicit about what they are giving, when and to whom, and should evaluate their programmes in terms of health outcomes and not level or speed of disbursement. Donors – led by the biggest three funding mechanisms, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the World Bank Multi-country AIDS program, and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – also have the duty to coordinate their support to the health sector, using the same accounting and auditing mechanisms to reduce transaction costs, improve efficiency and reduce risks of corruption.

Clare Dickenson and Liz Taylor, ‘The link between Corruption and HIV/Aids’
Taylor and Dickenson highlight the ways in which corruption impedes efforts to prevent infection and treat people living with HIV/Aids. The authors look in detail at the vulnerabilities of treatment programmes such as embezzlement of funds earmarked for treatment and the misappropriation of medicines. They also look at national strategies intended to combat corruption and mismanagement and the role of the donor community in ensuring funds are appropriately spent.
Global Corruption Report 2006, Ch 6, p104

Maureen Lewis, Addressing the challenge of HIV/Aids: Macroeconomic, fiscal and institutional issues
This paper looks at the impact of rapid scaling up of HIV/AIDS funding on macroeconomic stability, fiscal health and the development of health institutions. It recommends innovative strategies for protecting aid flows against corruption and for mitigating against the potentially negative impact of aid on macroeconomic and institutional stability. Some of the strategies are borrowed from the experience in natural resources booms, where rapid inflows of money are accompanied by an increase in corruption levels.
Center for Global Development working paper number 58 (April 2005)

Center for Global Development, HIV/AIDS Monitor: Tracking Aid Effectiveness
CGD's HIV/AIDS Monitor aims to inform and strengthen donor assistance by providing comparative and timely analyses from both global and country-level perspectives of the three major funding mechanism for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund), the World Bank Multi-country AIDS Program (MAP), and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This monitoring effort feeds into a broader questioning of effectiveness of aid.

Toby Kasper, ‘Accountability in a Time of Crisis: Corruption and the Global Fund’
Kasper describes the concept, mandate and achievements so far of the Global Fund, focusing on the implementation of accountability measures and attempts to measure the success of the Global Fund initiative.
Global Corruption Report 2006, Box 6.1, p108

John Morton and Joanna White, ‘Mitigating impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural livelihoods: NGO experiences in sub-Saharan Africa’
This paper details the main findings of a review to examine projects in sub-Saharan Africa dedicated to mitigating the impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural livelihoods. Carried out between 2001 and 2002 by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), the review aimed to raise awareness of approaches to counter the impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in resource-poor settings. The article outlines the problems which current interventions are seeking to address, the focus of project activities, and perceived factors of success.

Judith Matthis, Anti-retroviral treatment in South Africa’s Free State province
Judith Matthis’ study analyses common perceptions of anti-retroviral treatment in South Africa’s Free State province. Although the study is not explicitly linked to corruption, understanding the framework through which treatment of HIV/AIDS is perceived is useful for understanding the context in which corruption can occur.

UNDP, Responding to the world's most serious development crisis
UNDP works to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce its impact by helping countries put HIV/AIDS at the centre of national development and poverty reduction strategies; build national capacity to mobilize all levels of government and civil society for a coordinated and effective response to the epidemic; and protect the rights of people living with AIDS, women, and vulnerable populations. This site offers knowledge, resources and best practices from around the world in the prevention and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Hoping and Coping: A Call for Action - The Capacity Challenge of HIV/AIDS in Least Developed Countries
This report looks at the capacity of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to deal effectively with the problems posed by HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS describe the effects of HIV/AIDS on the poorest and most vulnerable segment of the world community. The report seeks to highlight the challenges faced not only by LDCs but by the international community as a whole. Given that these challenges stand as arguably the biggest threat to capacity development in LDCs, UNAIDS highlights the fact that urgent progress is needed in prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in order to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve sustainable development as encapsulated in the Millenium Development Goals.

WHO and HIV/AIDS
As the directing and coordinating authority on international health, the World Health Organization (WHO) website provides evidence-based, technical support to WHO Member States to help them scale up treatment, care and prevention services as well as drugs and diagnostics supply to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable response to HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, brings together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations to the global AIDS response. On this site you can find a wealth of data, publications and information against the global fight against the spread of HIV.

Rory Watson, ‘EU clamps down on reimportation of cheap drugs meant for Africa’
Rory Watson analyses the illegal trade in reimported cutprice drugs entering the European market. The European Union is taking various measures to prevent low cost drugs intended for patients in some of the world's poorest countries from being diverted and resold for huge profits in the West.

Richard Ingram, ‘Health-AIDS-Africa: Corruption, fair access to drugs are keys to AIDS fight, Africa told’
In this short article covering the last of a six-day forum on Africa's Aids crisis, Ingram refers to the closing speech by UNAIDS's Executive Director Piot who considers corruption to be a major impediment to the effectiveness of the global fight against HIV and Aids. Addressing the need for further funding, Piot warns that donor countries would only then be willing to make available more resources if they could be assured that money was going to be well spent rather than being siphoned off for purposes other than the fight against HIV/Aids, as has been the case in the past. Piot's speech can be accessed here.

Aids in Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to over 70% of the total world HIV-positive population. In the southernmost region we find countries with HIV prevalence rates of over 30%, the highest in the world. There is no overriding explanation for why HIV has exploded in some areas and not others. We tend to draw over-simplistic correlations between HIV/AIDS and demographics such as wealth, literacy, or fertility. This site allows you to view HIV prevalence along with other forms of demographic data to the complexities of the spread of HIV.

Oxfam – HIV/AIDS
This Oxfam resource page looks at the impact of the spread of HIV/AIDS paying particular attention to the spread of the disease in under-resourced areas. The page offers a wealth of reading material on the topic, including academic papers, stories, case studies and reccommended links. It asserts the obstacles presented by the disease in the reduction of poverty.

• Uganda: Inquiry Into Alleged Mismanagement of Ugandan Global Fund Grants Has Revealed 'Pile of Filth,' Commission Head Says, Kaisernetwork, 04 April 2006

Kenya:
Corruption in Kenya’s National Aids Control Council
Kipkoech Tanui and Nixon Ng’ang’a, Global Corruption Report 2006, Ch 6, p112