Following the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States in November 2008, a coalition of organizations dedicated to global health equity came together to prepare a white paper with recommendations for the incoming Administration and Congress. The six organizations that participated in the coalition included several founding partners of GHD: Partners In Health; the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; Physicians for Human Rights; Health Alliance International; RESULTS; and ActionAid International.
In the introduction to the white paper, they declare:
“We are at a pivotal point in United States history as the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress begin. We embrace the message of change and hope that brought this new Administration to ascendance and look forward to the application of these principles in all sectors of government. While the U.S. financial crisis is likely foremost on the minds of many in Washington, the current global crisis threatens to worsen the extreme privation suffered by those in the developing world. At the writing of this document, 25% of the developing world lives in dire poverty and 80% of the world lives in countries where income inequality is worsening. Such social inequity threatens not only the health of the globe but peace, security, and the prospects of financial recovery. The U.S. government role in providing aid for health and development has never been more critical….
“We believe that U.S. health and development assistance should address both the root causes of ill health—poverty and inequality—and be directed toward building public sector institutions to help governments respond to the needs of their people. Aid should be transparent on both donor and recipient sides and accountable to the target population—the poor who need services most. The new Administration and Congress have a unique opportunity to redefine foreign aid policy to help those most impoverished and to save lives. Implementing the recommendations of this paper would have an enormous impact.”
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Click on the links below to download:
- the full 24-page white paper [pdf, 1.2 Mb] – Global Health Recommendations for a New Administration and Congress
- a 4-page summary [pdf, 228 kb] consisting of the introduction and the specific recommendations contained in the white paper
- The website for this publication is: http://www.globalhealth2009.org/