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ZIMBABWE: Global AIDS fund exclusion questioned

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 26 July (PLUSNEWS) - A decision by the Global AIDS Fund to turn down Zimbabwe's application for US $218 million and "exclude" the country from its list of recipient countries, has raised a number of ethical questions.

Campaigners have been asking whether the need and desire to prolong people's lives should not prevail over politics, but Richard Feacham, the Fund's executive director, said the country would not benefit from the fund.

"Yes, the politics of a nation plays a role when we determine that country€™s application. There are a broad set of challenges in Zimbabwe that we considered in coming up with an agreement to reject their proposal: how and to whom do we disburse the funds? What exchange rate regime will we use?" Feacham said in a statement.

He noted that it would not help the country's people "to pass money through channels which were not well worked out".

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