Guardian's Boseley says USAID's Shah concerned about Europe's commitment to global health issues

Aug 1 2012

In her "Global Health Blog," Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley notes that she spoke with USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah during last week's XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012). She writes that though he "has a very clear vision of where USAID is going and what it hopes to achieve ... [h]e appears to be a little concerned, however, that Europe may not keep pace -- particularly on the finance but perhaps also on the approach." She continues to say "Shah's main anxiety is clearly ... about the diminishing funding from European allies for the efforts to turn the tide of AIDS ... but also about the financial commitment to global health generally."

Boseley writes, "It would have been nice to have turned for reassurance to a British Cabinet minister ... [b]ut no member of the British government attended" the conference. She concludes, "DfID is much praised for its work on family planning and vaccines -- and [British Prime Minister] David Cameron is said to be planning a 'hunger summit' on malnutrition to take place during the Olympics -- but has AIDS now slipped down the U.K. agenda, just at a time when [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton and others are saying that more effort could finally deliver an 'AIDS-free generation?'" (7/30).