Global Health Policy

The Global Health Initiative was launched by the Obama Administration in 2009 as a new way for the United States to do business in global health. Three years later – suffering from a lack of mandate – the GHI was dissolved and in its place a new new way to do business in global health was announced: the Office of Global Health Diplomacy, led by an Ambassador responsible for “champion[ing] the priorities and policies of the GHI in the diplomatic arena.” The announcement sparked frustration in the global health community, and I questioned if it may be short-sighted to put so much control of US global health leadership into the hands of the State Department.

Next week some 20,000 AIDS activists, practitioners and researchers from around the world will pour into Washington, DC to discuss new research and technologies at the International AIDS Conference (IAC). Meanwhile, fifteen blocks away on Capitol Hill, US policy makers will be grappling with policy issues that could have a significant impact on billions of dollars in global HIV/AIDS funding, of which the United States is by far the largest provider.

Since October 2010, Haiti has struggled to control a deadly cholera outbreak—on top of ongoing recovery efforts from the devastating earthquake in January 2010. To date 7000 Haitians have died from cholera and more than half a million have been infected; PAHO recently called it the largest cholera outbreak in modern history. So last month, a group of lawyers in Haiti, on behalf of some 15,000 victims of cholera, sued the United Nations for $50,000 for each victim and double that for families of those who died.

Yesterday, Secretary Clinton made an eloquent and morale boosting speech in support of the United States' continued leadership in the global effort towards an “AIDS-free generation.” Her remarks demonstrated a clear focus on prevention as the way forward, highlighting recent advances in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT), male circumcision