Obama Budget Request Increases International Global Health Funding

President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, which was released on Monday, would increase by 9% funding for global health issues, including reducing maternal and child mortality, the Wall Street Journal reports. The budget includes a total request for global health of $9.6 billion for HHS, the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense. The budget enacted for FY 2010 allocated $8.8 billion for those departments, the Journal reports.

The State Department and USAID would receive $700 million to target maternal and child mortality under the proposal, an increase from the $474 million allocated in 2010. Family planning would receive a $65 million funding increase under the budget, from $525 million to $590 million.

According to the Journal, the budget proposal includes several "ambitious targets" to be reached by 2014, including reducing maternal mortality by 30% -- or about 360,000 lives saved -- and reducing mortality among children younger than age five by 35% -- or about three million lives saved -- in assisted countries. The proposed budget would aim to provide HIV/AIDS drug treatment to 1.6 million more people and cut the prevalence of malaria and tuberculosis in Africa by half.

A majority of the requested funding -- about $7 billion -- would go to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, including $5.74 billion for bilateral HIV/AIDS programs, $251 million for bilateral TB programs, and a $1 billion contribution to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (McKay, Wall Street Journal, 2/1).

Both Democrats and Republicans praised the president's budget proposal for the State Department, the Washington Times reports. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Obama's budget proposal "demonstrates the president's commitment to funding lifesaving development programs in global health, food security, climate change and global poverty." Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush, said, "The programs supported by the international affairs budget are as essential to our national security as defense programs," adding, "Development and diplomacy protect our nation by addressing the root causes of terrorism and conflict" (Kralev, Washington Times, 2/2).














Programs that specifically address maternal and child mortality traditionally have attracted little funding, according to William Aldis, assistant professor at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, and a former representative of the World Health Organization. He added that he supports the idea of the U.S. working more closely with individual countries to address global health issues "as long as the U.S. pays attention to what countries want to do, and works with them respectfully and early in the planning process to get genuine national commitment country-by-country to the U.S. investment" (Randall, Bloomberg, 2/1).

NPR Examines U.S. Policy on International Family Planning

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Tuesday examined how U.S. support for international family planning has changed since Obama took office. Under the Bush administration, "conservatives opposed even the use of the term 'reproductive health services,'" according to "Morning Edition." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that greater access to family planning and HIV/AIDS counseling and treatment will be available to millions of women worldwide under the Obama administration (Wilson, "Morning Edition," NPR, 2/2).

Budget Proposal Includes Few Changes to HHS Budget

In related news, Obama's proposed budget includes "a few minor changes" to the HHS budget, including a $1 billion increase for NIH, an additional $290 million for community health centers and an added $1.6 billion for child care, the Washington Post reports. A majority of the department's $900 billion budget would be allocated for Medicare and Medicaid (Connolly, Washington Post, 2/1).

Also included in the budget proposal is $500 million for a new Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund that would extend to states competitive grants to "conduct and rigorously evaluate comprehensive responsible fatherhood programs." According to CQ HealthBeat, the proposal would also allocate a $2.5 billion emergency fund for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 2/1).


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