Automatic U.S. budget cuts would hurt global health efforts

Dec 19 2012

In a post on the PATH blog, Rachel Wilson, senior director for policy and advocacy at PATH, examines the consequences of budget negotiations and "what enacting billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts could mean for people living in poverty around the world." She continues, "According to a report from the Office of Management and Budget reported on the Kaiser Family Foundation website, if the automatic cuts take effect, global health funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department would decrease by $670 million, or 8.2 percent from 2012 levels." Wilson writes, "These kinds of cuts would have very real consequences," and she cites estimates from amfAR and the Guttmacher Institute about how cuts would affect access to HIV/AIDS, malaria, childhood disease, and reproductive health prevention and treatment. She concludes, "The United States has contributed to incredible gains in global health. Any retreat from our leadership would set us back in ways that are unimaginable" (12/17).

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