This commentary is by Nils Daulaire of South Royalton, a former U.S. assistant secretary of health for global affairs, a former U.S. representative to the executive board of the World Health Organization, and former CEO of the Vermont-based Global Health Council.
The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vulnerable the U.S. is to health threats that can emerge on the other side of the world.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the U.S. has rightly made sizable investments in fighting the virus, but that can’t be where our global health agenda ends. Last month, President Biden, while speaking at the United Nations, made a direct ask of global leaders to continue to fight Covid while also working to prevent the next pandemic now.
He’s right. To reclaim the U.S.’s global health leadership, we must not take our eye off global efforts to prevent the spread of and to treat other deadly diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Thankfully, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy has continued to push for this two-pronged approach. He has for decades been among the most steadfast leaders for improving global health, and now, at this critical moment, he needs the rest of his colleagues to prioritize and champion these issues as well.
Sen. Leahy’s work to improve health around the world, respond to three of the world’s biggest infectious killers, and stop future pandemics before they can spread is unmatched. I was just back from working on child health in Nepal 30 years ago when I met him for the first time to urge greater support for targeted child health programs. Not only did he welcome me and engage in a spirited conversation about the realities of life in one of the world’s poorest countries, he saw to it that his commitments were reflected in that year’s spending bill.
He consistently backs up his passion to improve health around the world with action. Two decades ago, Sen. Leahy led the congressional effort to establish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — and to date, the Global Fund partnership has saved 44 million lives.
Sen. Leahy has also fought to increase funding for international family planning, and has been one of the leading voices for ending the Global Gag Rule, a dangerous anti-abortion policy that put women’s health at risk around the world.
In 2018, he not only fought against the Trump administration’s dangerous scheme to slash funds for the U.S. government’s global AIDS relief program called PEPFAR, he managed to actually increase funding for the program by $50 million. And in recent months, Senator Leahy secured $3.5 billion for the Global Fund’s Covid-19 efforts in the American Rescue Plan Act.
These critical resources will aid in the global Covid-19 response by expanding access to testing globally and distributing personal protective equipment to health workers around the world, while also protecting hard-fought progress against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by ensuring that people around the world have the treatment and prevention tools to protect against the spread of these deadly diseases.
This moment is critical, and what we do right now could decide how healthy and safe the world is for the next 50 years and beyond.
A new report from the Global Fund found that Covid-19 has already massively disrupted health systems and health service delivery for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia, and for the first time in decades, progress in fighting these deadly diseases has been reversed. Not only do we need to continue to launch an aggressive response to contain Covid-19, we also need to expand basic health infrastructure around the world to respond to other deadly diseases, while preparing ourselves for future potential pandemics. We can’t just pick one.
To meet this moment, we need the other members of Congress who care about a peaceful, stable and prosperous world to step up, rise to the example that Sen. Leahy has set, and work with him to lead on global health. Covid-19 proved how important investing in global disease treatment and prevention is, and we need to turn that lesson into action.
A report from the G-20 found that spending only $15 billion per year would help prevent future pandemics — a fraction of the more than $16 trillion in economic disruptions caused by Covid-19. Next year, governments from across the world will be making pledges to support the work of the Global Fund for the next three years. Never has a strong investment from the U.S. been more important.
Last month, when President Biden addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he asked global leaders, “Will we work together to save lives, defeat Covid-19 everywhere, and take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves for the next pandemic? Or will we fail to harness the tools at our disposal as the more virulent and dangerous variants take hold?”
Covid-19 has reminded all of us of what Sen. Leahy has been warning for years: that diseases don’t have borders and that our current global health infrastructure is simply not sufficient to stop a global pandemic. It’s imperative that we act aggressively to prevent the spread of future pandemics.
Sen. Leahy has worked for over three decades to improve global health and keep Vermonters, Americans and the world safe and healthy. Now is the time for his colleagues to join him in prioritizing global health.
