What You Can Do To Protect Foreign Aid and Global Health
Posted by
Jen Pollakusky
Washington, D.C.
November 2, 2011
As budget talks continue to heat up over the next few weeks, funding for lifesaving global health programs, including HIV/AIDS, are at risk of being drastically reduced.
According to a recent
CNN article published earlier this week, the
President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is one of the important programs that could suffer from budget cuts.
The U.S. foreign aid budget, which includes programs like PEPFAR, accounts for less than 1 percent of overall federal spending – a relatively small amount and a fraction of what the U.S. spends on other areas of the budget.
But the return on investment around the world is enormous.
According to the ONE campaign U.S. investment in foreign assistance programs is saving lives. ONE recently facilitated a meeting between the White House Administration and several prominent bloggers to share their experiences visiting U.S.-sponsored health programs in Kenya.
U.S. support for HIV/AIDS programs alone has reached millions of mothers, children, and families with lifesaving prevention, care, and treatment services.
Foreign assistance programs like PEPFAR have improved the health of women and children thanks to significant U.S. leadership and commitment.
As Bill Gates mentioned in the Washington Post, U.S.-funded foreign aid programs have been instrumental in raising living standards around the world over the past 50 years.
Backpedaling on this investment and the progress achieved in advancing global health would be devastating. And while U.S. budget issues are real, solving them shouldn’t have to cost lives.
Please speak out on behalf of millions of children and women living with HIV worldwide.
Tell Congress to put politics aside and support funding for HIV/AIDS services -- and oppose cuts to essential foreign aid programs.
Jen Pollakusky is a Senior Public Policy and Advocacy Officer based in Washington, D.C.