Donor bodies misuse the health ministry logo, the concerned officials ‘unaware’

Kathmandu. Donor bodies who have been assisting and cooperating in various aspects of the health sector in Nepal have been interfering at the policymaking level by influencing high-ranking health officials. It has come to light that the donor body is not only limited to interfering with the policymaking matters but has also started misusing the official logo of the ministry of health.

Recently, skippable ads were run in some media in which the logo of three donor bodies GAVI, UNICEF, and WHO, along with the logo of the Ministry of Health and Population appeared. Swastha Live has discovered that the logo of the Ministry of Health and Population has been featured without permission and notice of the ministry.

Any donor body must obtain approval from the National Health Education Information and Communication Center(NHEICC), Teku, for disseminating information and messages regarding health-related matters. No broadcast of any advertisement is allowed without approval. However, in the campaign against typhoid 2078/079, it has been confirmed that the three donor bodies GAVI, UNICEF, and WHO have misused the government logo without approval from the concerned bodies.

The director of NHEICC, Teku, Dr. Sunil Raj Sharma told they are unaware of the use of the logo of the Ministry of Health and Population in the advertisement of the campaign against typhoid. “First of all, they are not allowed to advertise on their own without our approval”, he said, “We are shocked how they misused our logo in the ad”.

Health Secretary Dr. Roshan Pakharel also confirmed that they have not given any permission to use the logo of the ministry. “We don’t even have the right to give such approval. Any request that comes to us will be forwarded to NHEICC,” he said. Experts say that these organizations may have dared to misuse the logo by putting some government officials in financial enticement.

The head of the policy planning division of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Krishna Poudel also expressed surprise over the misuse of the logo. “In the previous occasion when 10 million people were vaccinated by UNICEF, we had given the content for advertisement,” he said, “But we are completely unaware it this time.”

Sagar Dahal, who is in charge of the immunization branch of the Family Welfare Division of the Health Services Department, also said that he was not aware of the misuse of the logo. Similarly, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Dr. Sangita Kaushal Mishra said that there was no discussion with the ministry regarding the matter.

Gavi has provided Rs. 1.69 billion for the vaccination campaign against typhoid. Similarly, WHO has allocated Rs. 6.4 million and the Government of Nepal has allocated Rs 174.1 million for the vaccination campaign. But the three donor bodies are found to have worked themselves without coordinating with the ministry of health and population.

A UNICEF official told Swasthya Live that the donor bodies should not publish any ad campaign without finalizing the matter with the concerned government bodies. “If it has happened, then the National Center for Health Education Information and Communication has to investigate the matter”, he said, “a lot of money has been spent on it”.

The donor agencies have misused the government logo and advertised for the campaign worth millions of rupees. It remains to be seen whether the officials of the ministry and the department will let go of it or investigate it.