Originally posted in The Atlantic: Read full article here.
A new report from the Gates Foundation shows the devastating effects of a lapse in funding for global health.
President Trump’s budget proposal, released in May, recommended slashing global health funding by 26 percent and humanitarian funding by 44 percent, or $4.2 billion. It eliminated global family planning. The proposal will likely be watered down by Congress this fall, but global-health advocates are nonetheless worried that even minor cuts could have massive, and tragic, effects.
If Congress agrees to the proposed cuts, they would mean “almost 800,000 people would face preventable death due to lost support for vaccination programs, 3 million people would be left without access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment, and 3 million children would be at higher risk of malnutrition due to an inability to access nutrition services,” said Gawain Kripke, Oxfam America’s policy director. He said the effects of the proposed cuts are already being felt, with projects canceled or delayed because of the uncertainty.
“If we don’t invest in global health, you’re going to see a lot more things like Ebola in our own country.”