Associated Press: AP Exclusive: Health agency spends more on travel than AIDS
“…According to internal documents obtained by the Associated Press, the United Nations health agency routinely has spent about $200 million a year on travel expenses, more than what it doles out to fight some of the biggest problems in public health, including AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. … At a time when the cash-strapped health agency is pleading for more money to fund its responses to health crises worldwide, it has struggled to get its travel costs under control. … In a statement to the AP, the U.N. health agency said ‘the nature of WHO’s work often requires WHO staff to travel’ and that costs were reduced 14 percent last year compared to the previous year — although that year’s total was exceptionally high due to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa…” (5/22).