Call to make funds for HIV/AIDS transparent

Kathmandu, July 8:

Speakers at a programme today emphasised the need of transparency in national and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), as well as in government organisations while utilising the budget from foreign and domestic donors for the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

They said that the children and women in the rural areas are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due their ignorance about the epidemic and rampant poverty in such areas.

They further said that the children are even deprived of school-level education just for contracting HIV positive.

Speaking at the discussion programme organised by Conscious Media Forum on ‘Problems of HIV infected and affected children’, Binod Adhikari, joint- secretary at Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, said a lot of money comes to Nepal through NGOs, INGOs but no one knows where the money goes.

He said, “If the donors’ money were spent on preventing or treating people living with HIV/AIDS, the problem would not have increased.”

“The budget spent on advocacy should go for the treatment in remote and vulnerable areas,” he said, adding, “Illiteracy and poverty are the causes to increase the number of people living with HIV/AIDS.”

Bharat Adhikari, officer at the Child Protection Department in CWIN ,said, “The epidemic has stroke the poor and disadvantaged people.”

According to Dr Nirakar Man Shrestha, secretary of the Ministry of Health and Education, “Rural areas are mainly suffering from the problem.”

He also said that the people don’t even reveal of having HIV/AIDS due to the fear of existing discrimination in society.

Manu KC from Nava Kiran Plus asked , “Who would like to identify themselves as patients of the disease if children are deprived of education and elders are treated badly in society.”