NACO must clean up phony NGOs in India

[Guest guest]

[Editors note: The following message- a correspondence appeared on

the Indian Journal of Medical Research- is posted on the FORUM to

invite your attention to a smug English professor and Biology Profs

views about HIV response in India. This English and Biology

professor should have at least known, India did not receive a World

Bank grant, but the country has taken a loan from the Bank with

interest to address HIV prevention, care and support needs of the

country. And the Indian legal system is catching the corrupt NGOS and

the Indian civil society is reasonably vigilant and willing to speak

up the corruption in HIV response.

God, save this country from such phony tourists masquerading as

researchers!. What a tragedy, the Indian Journal of Medical Research

publishes such trashy tourist travelogue on an esteemed medical

research journal of India as a research correspondence.]

NACO must clean up phony NGOs in India

Indian J Med Res 128, July 2008, pp 87-88

Correspondence

Sir,

Money spent on HIV/AIDS prevention is essential; money wasted in the

name of such prevention is a deadly sham. The World Bank lashed out

recently at nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in India that

practice financial deceit in the name of bettering the health of a

nation which is home to one in six humans and has the unfortunate

distinction of being among the leading nations in total AIDS cases.

India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) followed suit soon

after, and dismissed nearly 350 NGOs which had pretended to be AIDS-

fighting institutions while they channeled time and money in

illegitimate directions1.

Under a grant from UNCFSP to explore the major sources of HIV/AIDS

transmission and find ways to improve prevention efforts, four

investigators from Claflin University visited India several times

during 2006 and 2007.

As they traveled extensively through India, the Claflin team was

impressed with India's rich heritage, its healthful fresh food

(including mangoes) and its growing commitment to fight diseases

(including HIV/AIDS). Personal experience and research demonstrated

to them that financial oversight has been severely lacking.

They were amazed to notice the dearth of billboard and TV ads

regarding HIV prevention, and wondered why India's vast

communications network has not been mobilized more fully to fight the

epidemic.

India has received over $193.7 million from the World Bank for HIV

prevention and AIDS related causes but relatively little is visible

in terms of mass media based prevention efforts2.

HIV/AIDS is not only a biological and medical problem, but also a

serious communication challenge made more difficult by the complex

cultural patterns of India. Increased spending for mass education via

the mass media is imperative.

Based on the Claflin University team's needs assessments, partner

consultations, research, and visits to India, we identified

several " Achilles' heels " that may be key culprits in the spread of

HIV in India. These include

(i) the deadly immorality of truck drivers3,

(ii) the mistreatment of widows in Hindu culture4,

(iii) the absence of circumcision in both Hindu and Sikh cultures5,

(iv) the widespread use of unclean needles in medical facilities6,

(v) the displacement and misdirection of HIV/AIDS prevention efforts

by the Indian government and NGOs7, and

(vi) systemic mistreatment of women in ways that spread the epidemic8.

Despite NACO's insistence that the World Bank's scathing January 2008

Report2 about rampant corruption in India's anti-AIDS efforts has

nothing to do with its own financial housecleaning, it is clear that

NACO had little choice but to do something dramatic to try to rescue

its reputation, and its funding opportunities.

The problem of corruption is obvious but the more insidious problem

of misplaced economic priorities may be even more serious. In a

country that leads Asia in confirmed AIDS cases, a nation in which

poverty plagues millions, one is shocked by the amount spent on non-

necessities (such as birthday parties) while AIDS prevention and

research efforts are not only chronically underfunded, but suffer

from inefficient use of what funds are allocated.

Surely a party in a chandeliered hotel, elaborate gifts, and teams of

cameramen, photographers, and DJs constitutes misplaced values and

priorities9.

Weddings have long been occasions for large expenditures but the

birthday craze is more recent9.

These activities are merely symptoms of widespread waste and

misallocation of public time and resources.

Avarice too often replaces genuine service and MONGOs (my own NGOs)

too often damage the NACO must clean up phony NGOs in India

reputation of authentic organizations; the Claflin team met

representatives from many valid entities.

Unfortunately, the same India that is famous for its mangoes is

becoming infamous for its MONGOs. The war against deadly acronyms –

whether HIV, AIDS, or MONGO – is a war worth fighting.

The World Bank has taken a decisive move, NACO has acted, but more

careful screening and supervision must become the norm. Only this can

prevent NGOs from metastasizing into MONGOs.

D. Gene Pace+ & Bagasra*

Department of English & Foreign Languages

Claflin University

400 Magnolia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115,

& *Department of Biology

South Carolina Center for Biotechnology

400 Magnolia Street

Orangeburg, SC 29115, USA

+For correspondence:

dpace@...

References

1. Padma TV. India continues crackdown, dismissing hundreds of AIDS

groups. Nat Med 2008; 14 : 227.

2. Mozumder S, Hanlon C. Government of India and World Bank Group

join forces to stamp out corruption in health sector projects.

Available at: http://www.worldbank.org.in/WEBSITE/

EXTERNALCOUNTRIESSOUTHASIAEXTINDIANEXTNO "

contentMDK:2160990~pagePK:1497618~piPK:217854~the

sitePK:295584,oo.html, accessed on March 31, 2008.

3. Bansal RK.Sexual behaviour and substance use patterns amongst

adolescent truck cleaners and risk of HIV/AIDS. Indian J Mat Child

Health 1992; 3 : 108-10.

4. Orchard TR. Girl, woman, lover, mother: towards a new

understanding of child prostitution among young Devadasis in rural

Karnataka, India. Soc Sci Med 2007; 64 : 2379-90.

5. Vardi Y, Sadeghi-Nejad H, Pollack S, Aisuodionoe-Shadrach OI,

Sharlip ID. Male circumcision and HIV prevention. J Sex Med 2007;

4 : 838-43.

6. Sarkar S, Panda S, Sarkar K, Hangzo CZ, Bijaya L, Singh NY, et al.

A cross-sectional study on factors including HIV testing and

counselling determining unsafe injecting practices among injecting

drug users of Manipur. Indian J Public Health 1995; 39 : 86-92.

7. Jayaraman KS. AIDS in position to ravage India. Nat Med 1996; 2 :

951-8.

8. Shreedhar J. HIV thrives in ancient traditions. Harv AIDS Rev 1995

Fall;:10-1.

9. Wax E. Birthday bashes that take the cake; For parents in India, a

chance to display generosity, affluence. Washington Post,

July 31, 2007, A01.

Indian J Med Res 128, July 2008, pp 87-88