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Full text PDF - International Policy Network

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248 Fighting the Diseases of Povertynothing at all to do with those activities, and reflect instead animage of an interfering, self-absorbed bureaucracy that is involvedin promoting anti-market ideologies and activities.An initial analysis of the 37 lines of the WHO’s budget could leadan impartial observer to distinguish between the first seven items,and the remaining 30. Judging by their titles, the first seven lineitemsconvey clear images of smallpox and Mother Teresa. To besure, those are not the only concepts that are conveyed; a bureaucraticimage is also present in those seven items. For one thing,there is very little work to be done in Geneva that would reflect theimages of either smallpox or Mother Teresa.Comparatively speaking, however, the extent of bureaucracy isless for those first seven items than for the remaining 30. Forinstance, 25 per cent of the WHO’s spending on these seven itemsis designated for the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva. By contrast, 35per cent of the spending takes place in Geneva for the other 30items. On a comparative basis, the first seven items reflect astronger orientation towards controlling communicable disease andproviding assistance for the impoverished than do the remainingbudget items. At the same time, those first seven activities constitutebut 41 per cent of the WHO’s budget. The remaining itemsoccupy 59 per cent of the WHO’s budget, and these more fully reflectan anti-market health bureaucracy at work. This is elaborated insubsequent sections.The devolution of expenditure away from Geneva to the countrylevel does not necessarily imply that the WHO’s activities more fullyreflect the concepts represented by smallpox and Mother Teresa. Forinstance, the third-largest item in the WHO’s budget is “WHO’s corepresence in countries.” This item is exceeded only by budget entriesfor “HIV/AIDS” and “immunisation and vaccine development.” Trueto its name, moreover, 89 per cent of WHO’s spending for its “corepresence in countries” occurs at the country level.At first glance, there might seem to be little bureaucracy evidenthere. The WHO’s account of what this activity actually entails,however, suggests the image of a lobbyist. Its purpose is to cultivate

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