The Government could help several thousand AIDS sufferers if it directly funded missionaries to combat the disease, according to a leading nun.
Sister Ursula Sharpe told a conference on world hunger that millions of euros worth of anti-retroviral drugs purchased by donor countries had gone stale in Ugandan government stores.
The nun condemned the waste at Gorta's World Food Day conference as well as criticising Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria for having to pay back UN money they had misappropriated from a special AIDS Fund.
She urged governments like Ireland to check with independent grass-roots agencies whether development monies were getting through to the sick and hungry.
The Assistant Leader of the Medical Missionaries of Mary said that while Irish missionaries are generously funded by the Government, they get no help for their AIDS projects.
She added that several thousands of HIV and AIDS sufferers could be helped if that policy changed.
The Ambassador of one of Africa's newest states responded that her country has sued a multinational construction company for corrupting the official responsible for a water scheme.
Ambassador Mannette Ramaili said it took two to tango in corruption and her government had jailed the corrupt official concerned as well as getting damages from the companies.
The conference organisers say that the world's 850m hungry people are now outnumbered by fellow humans who are obese.
The conference heard praise for India's constitutional court judgment directing that all children in state schools and other vulnerable groups get free meals.
