(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today encouraged Congress to take a closer look at the medical and financial policy decisions of the World Health Organization (WHO).  Just days before the annual December 1^st World AIDS Day, the WHO admitted this week that it did not move quickly enough to meet its goal of treating 3 million patients by 2005 (“3 by 5”). 

“The WHO must be held accountable for its failed policies and its mismanagement of taxpayer dollars,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “With the possible threat posed by avian influenza (bird flu), CAGW will work with Congress to ensure that tax dollars are not being wasted by this international body.”

In recent years, the WHO’s medical and financial policies, especially related to HIV/AIDS and the “Other Budget,” have come under significant criticism from leading health and development experts.  In September 2004, CAGW wrote to Congress about the WHO’s “3 by 5” campaign, which willfully provided sub-standard, untested AIDS drugs through their ‘Pre-Qualification Project” to many patients living in the developing world, especially Africa.  Many of these drugs were later recalled from the market by the WHO because they were not bio-equivalent.

  In January 2004, the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet published an article describing how the WHO and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are guilty of medical malpractice related to malaria treatment initiatives.  The authors argued that the WHO routinely approves and finances inferior drugs that no longer effectively treat malaria, a practice that leads to drug resistance in the deadly parasite.

The financial policies of the WHO also merit concern.  American taxpayers fund 23 percent of the WHO’s two-year regular budget, averaging about $202 million in 2004-05.  Yet, the WHO’s “Other Budget,” which reached more than $1.8 billion in 2004-05, is comprised of special programs and initiatives that are beyond the control of the member states of the WHO. 

“The lack of transparency and accountability with the WHO’s budget is deeply troubling and warrants thorough examination,” Schatz concluded. 

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement, and abuse in government.