Today we’re reading about an ongoing debate in the global health field, about the unfortunate state of donations to GAVI, and another analysis of Bill Gates & Bill Clinton’s testimony to Congress in favor of global health spending.
The Other Health Care Debate, Chris Collins, Huffington Post
Donors scaling back and not scaling up funding for GAVI at critical juncture, Karen Grepin’s Global Health Blog
Giving Congress the Good Global Health Stories, Te-Ping Chen, Global Health at Change.org
When the Obama Administration released its FY 2011 budget, it included $58.5 billion for International Affairs. This includes $8.8 billion allocated for global health issues. However, the United States’ struggling economy, record budget deficit, and huge debts has led to mounting political pressure to cut spending, including, unfortunately, the International Affairs account which supports global health initiatives and a number of development programs that life people out of poverty and promote stability worldwide
Fortunately, the community is united! We’ve joined with a coalition of other non-profits, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and others to send a letter to members of the US House of Representatives and Senate, emphasizing the importance of the International Affairs budget in U.S. foreign policy. The full text of the letter is below.
If you’re interested in joining the dialogue, call your congressman to tell them you support U.S. foreign assistance.
Dear Member of Congress:
We the undersigned organizations support the president’s request of $58.5b, as the minimum amount needed for the International Affairs account for FY11. This amount is expected to be 1.4% of total outlays of federal spending in FY11.
Our support is based on factors as varied as our specific missions themselves. But we are united around a common belief that the budget for International Affairs is critical to U.S. foreign policy and our shared future with people and nations around the world.
Sincerely,
As part of the global health community, we are always working to raise the profile of the neglected tropical diseases.
A paper released in the January 26th, 2010 edition of the online peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, looks at the lack of research and attention given to the NTDs. Author Dieter Vanderelst,an economist at the University of Antwerp, argues that scientific research into the NTDs lags behind other diseases which have a similar burden around the world. Not only does this disparity exist, but it is likely underestimated.
The researchers write that, “The disproportionally low research interest in NTDs is doubly worrying if one considers that the DALYs associated with NTDs are generally assumed to be underestimated.” DALYs are a public health measurement that takes into account the years of life a person loses due to either illness or death from a specific disease. Although there has been measurable growth in the body of research around the NTDs, this has been largely attributed to the creation of the NTD specific PloS journal.
Similarly, resources for NTDs are growing due to the increased interest in global health and now many new partners are working on cost effective and efficient solutions and interventions. “It will be necessary for civil society, scientists, and policymakers alike to break this cycle so that some of the most common infections among the 2.7 billion people living on less than US$ 2 per day receive the attention they deserve.” Although progress is being made, there is still a lot of work to be done.
With the release of President Obama’s proposed FY11 budget allocating $155 million towards NTD control and elimination efforts it seems as if the Administration is making NTDs a significant priority. In particular, the Administration is seeking to reduce the prevalence of NTDs globally by 50% within 70% of all of the affected population, eliminate onchocerciasis in Latin America by 2016, eliminate lymphatic filariasis globally by 2017, and eliminate leprosy globally. With this new focus on NTDs, and the associated increase in resources, perhaps the research gap for NTDs will begin to close.
With the release of Obama’s proposed FY11 budget yesterday and the $155 million allocated to NTDs specifically, we’re reading many different articles about the Administration’s 9% increase in global health funding. We’re also reading about the recent $13 million grant that the Gates Foundation has given to The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to eliminate elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis) and river blindness (onchocerciasis), in the developing world. Lots of exciting things happening for the NTD community!
Last week President Obama stated his commitment to global health in his State of the Union speech. Today, the administration detailed exactly what form that commitment would take. In the newly unveiled fiscal year 2011 budget over $3 billion are requested to address global health concerns.
The Global Network applauds the Obama Administration for their inclusion of $155 million to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide.
Even more exciting is the ambitious goals for NTD treatment set forth by the President’s Global Health Initiative. The main aim of this initiative is to reduce the prevalence of the 7 most common NTDs by 50% among 70% of the affected population. Specific goals include the elimination of onchocerciasis, (river blindness), in Latin America by 2016 and the elimination of lymphatic filariasis globally by 2017.
While these are just the first steps, the Global Network is glad to see that NTDs are being recognized by the Administration as a major global health concern and that serious and ambitious efforts will be made to make these diseases a thing of the past.
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