Fighting AIDS in Mozambique - Where does the money go? By Adam Graham-Silverman

Another example of NGOs working more efficiently than government health programs in Africa...

Fighting AIDS in Mozambique - Where does the money go? By Adam Graham-Silverman: "SOFALA PROVINCE—In 2004, Mozambique's health ministry spent $50 million to fight AIDS. The United States dropped $27 million last year and will donate $48 million more in 2005. From the passenger seat of a pickup truck bumping along a teeth-grinding road in one of the most infected parts of the country, Aurelio Gomes has just one question: Where is the money?

'It is a big joke, as you can see,' he says, gesturing at the potholed dirt and flat plains dotted with cane houses. 'There is no money here.' It's a frequent refrain from Gomes, one of the most embittered yet proactive people I met in Mozambique. For the Mozambican doctor who resembles the aging Muhammad Ali, the desire to treat HIV/AIDS quickly has meant abandoning the international donors he sees as a patronage network and bureaucratic nightmare. After butting against that wall too long, Gomes struck out on his own."