Papua New Guinea government stepping down as Global Fund grant principal recipient

Following an audit last year by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that found Papua New Guinea's National Department of Health (NDOH) "had not complied with grant guidelines and some $7 million had been misdirected," the government is stepping down as the principal recipient (PR) of Global Fund grants in order to "improve its response," IRIN reports.

"Oil Search, one of PNG's biggest and oldest companies, was appointed the new PR at end-June. In addition to producing oil and gas in PNG, Oil Search has run several successful anti-malarial programs since the 1990s and says it has an expertise that can be tapped for its new role," IRIN writes. Oil Search will assume its PR role in early 2012, but NDOH will continue to "implement malaria projects while overhauling its operations," according to the news service (7/19).