India’s Ban on Foreign Money for Health Group Hits Gates Foundation
Mr. Chhibber, the public health foundation’s media relations director, said
that a large part of the organization’s tobacco program involved research on tobacco’s health effects.
The public health organization, the Public Health Foundation of India, is a public-private partnership that was started by the government in 2006.
By NIDA NAJARAPRIL 20, 2017
NEW DELHI — The Indian government has blocked one of the country’s largest nonprofit public health organizations
from accepting money from foreign donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The group claims the foundation is connected to pharmaceutical companies, said Ashwani Mahajan, a senior member of the organization, which is putting together research detailing its assertion to present to the government
and to request government action against the Gates Foundation.
The Public Health Foundation of India has long been a giant in the public health sphere here.
The cancellation of the health organization’s license to accept international financing is the latest move in
an aggressive government crackdown on nongovernmental organizations that receive money from outside India.
