OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on his way to Geneva, where he hopes to flesh out details of his plan to aid Third World mothers and children.
The multibillion-dollar initiative was approved by G-8 leaders at their June summit and now Harper is working out specifics with the UN commission on information and accountability for women's and children's health.
But his efforts could get sidetracked by revelations of corruption at an international fund into which the Conservative government plowed a half-billion dollars last year.
The Associated Press reported this week that internal investigations at the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria uncovered $34 million in losses in some African nations.
One of those was Mali, one of Canada's top targets for aid.
Harper used his address at the United Nations General Assembly last year to announce a Canadian contribution of $540 million to the fund and linked it to the federal maternal and child health initiative.
That contribution brought Canada's total support for the fund to $1.5 billion since its inception in 2001.
Authorities have recovered $19 million of the missing money, but only a handful of grants have been studied by a special investigative unit.
International Development Minister Bev Oda has said Canada is "deeply concerned" about the revelations.
Investigators found that $4 million had been misappropriated in Mali.
The fund announced last month it had put a hold on $22.6 million worth of grants to Mali.
Officials in Geneva defended the organization, saying it was doing far more to stamp out corruption than other major development agencies.
Harper heads to Morocco before returning to Canada late Thursday.
Source:http://www.ctv.ca/
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