FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (AP) - In a story March 10 about Sierra Leone charging 29 people with fraud, The Associated Press erroneously identified the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s vaccine program. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, is a recipient of Gates Foundation money, but it also receives funds from other sources including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Bank.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Sierra Leone charges 29 with defrauding vaccination fund
Sierra Leone charged 29 top health officials with defrauding global vaccination fund
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) _ The head of Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission says that 29 government health officials will appear in court on corruption charges for having allegedly defrauded an international fund to provide vaccinations.
Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara told The Associated Press that the government’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kisito Sheku Daoh, six other medical doctors and 22 health officials are charged with defrauding the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, of $523,000. He said all those charged are out on bail and scheduled to appear in court on March 18.
The GAVI is a public/private partnership that receives money from several sources including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and The World Bank.
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