Time for U.S. to Take Global Health Commitment to "New Level"

Steve Gloyd, executive director of Health Alliance International, and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), write in a Seattle Times opinion piece that U.S. global health efforts "should look to the global response to HIV/AIDS to inspire us." Though President Barack Obama's six year, $63 billion Global Health Initiative is "laudable ... we cannot make advances in some areas at the expense of people living with HIV. We must fulfill our promises to those whose lives and futures depend on daily antiretrovirals. This means carrying through with the authorizations Congress made last year to fight AIDS, as well as tuberculosis and malaria."

Gloyd and McDermott write that is "time to take our commitment to a new level. In addition to working to equip labs and clinics and train a work force to treat and care for those living with HIV, we must work to strengthen primary health care across the board, ensuring that all people have the care they need, whether for HIV, or prenatal care, or pneumonia. AIDS funding has contributed to health-system improvements and better health outcomes for other diseases, but more is necessary" for global health efforts, according to Gloyd and McDermott. They call for "ten cents out of every $100" produced by the U.S. economy to "get the job done" (11/30).

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