OIG

This new issue of the GFO is devoted entirely to the 53rd meeting of the Global Fund Board, which took place from May 7 to 9, 2025, in Geneva, revealing a pivotal moment for the institution as it confronts major funding gaps, governance challenges, and the urgent need for reform. From the Executive Director’s call for unity and realism to debates over grant reprogramming, risk management, and ethical oversight, the meeting underscored the fragile balance between ambition and constraint.

This article analyses the Global Fund’s 2024 OIG Annual Report, which was presented at the 53rd Board Meeting, from May 7 to 9, 2025, in Geneva. The report highlights the Global Fund’s progress amid global uncertainty, identifies key governance-related risks, and calls for bold operational reforms to maximize efficiency and safeguard billions in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

This article offers an analytical and critical reading of the Recoveries Report submitted to the 53rd Global Fund Board Meeting. It examines the dynamics of fund recoveries related to non-compliant expenditures, the risk management tools deployed, and the systemic limitations revealed by trends observed in 2024. The article highlights the growing complexity of the operational environment, country-specific developments, and the tension between financial rigor and field constraints.

ABSTRACT When the Office of the Inspector General published a report on its audit of grant management in high-risk environments in January of this year, we reported on the audit findings and we undertook to provide information in a separate article on five agreed management actions that the Secretariat committed to implement to address the findings. This article contains details on the AMAs.

ABSTRACT The OIG has published its report on its audit of Global Fund emergency preparedness. It explains how, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Fund Secretariat instituted measures to ensure business continuity at the corporate level and in the implementation of its grants at the country level. Establishing an effective crisis response structure, agile decision-making, good coordination and collaboration, effective engagement with stakeholders, and the consistent availability of information technology services were the measures that worked well during the crisis and should be sustained for future response to other crises.

ABSTRACT An audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) shows that Kenya has made significant progress against HIV, TB and malaria. This is partly due to the country’s ability to successfully procure and distribute Global Fund-supported health products. The OIG, however, found issues in the quality of services, measurement of grant performance and grant implementation in the context of devolution of health services from the central government to 47 county governments following constitutional changes in 2010.

ABSTRACT The Office of the Inspector General provided the Global Fund Board with a summary of its progress to date in dealing with outstanding Agreed Management Actions which are recommendations based on its audit reports. COVID-19 disruptions, competing priorities in signing new grants, and challenges in selecting implementers continue to hinder the Secretariat’s ability to implement AMAs that require extensive engagement with in-country implementers. As such, long-overdue AMAs increased from 14 (May 2021) to 23 (September 2021). Four of the 23 long-overdue AMAs pose high risk.

ABSTRACT Some Global Fund documents are becoming increasingly difficult to understand because of attempts to make the text sound grandiose and the misuse of word and phrases, with lengthy sentences containing a mixture of ideas. They must also be becoming more difficult – if not impossible – to translate into other languages. This light-hearted article makes a plea for simpler, plain English.

ABSTRACT During the recent 46th Global Fund Board Meeting held on 8 to 10 November 2021, the Technical Review Panel updated the Board on its work in 2021 and plans for 2022. TRP reported that it had reviewed and recommended 98% of the allocated funds for the 2020-2022 cycle for funding. It also reported the findings of its assessment of its performance in 2020, its advisory on Global Fund investments in health systems, and a Secretariat-commissioned Advisory by the Office of the Inspector General on its mandate and functioning.

RÉSUMÉ Des cadres supérieurs de la Fondation Chinansi, maître d’œuvre des subventions du Fonds mondial au Malawi, se sont livrés à des activités frauduleuses opportunistes. Un montant de 70 572 dollars a été détourné d’un programme de soutien aux adolescentes et aux jeunes femmes. En outre, 9 924 dollars de dépenses non-conformes ont également été identifiés. Ce rapport explique l’enquête menée par le Bureau de l’Inspecteur général sur les événements et les mesures prises pour décourager et signaler de telles activités frauduleuses à l’avenir.