24 September 2008
Next Administration Will Continue U.S. Programs to Fight Disease
Campaigns list strategies, priorities for meeting global health challenges
Washington — If elected president, John McCain or Barack Obama would continue to help foreign countries combat infectious disease. Both are committed to ensuring the United States is prepared to respond to a global pandemic.
Representatives from both campaigns participated in a debate on health issues September 18.The debate was sponsored by Scientists and Engineers for America, a nonpartisan educational organization that aims to increase respect for evidence-based debate and decision-making in politics and at all levels of government.
The candidates differ on their approach to reforming health care in the United States, but both agree the United States should continue to support foreign health initiatives, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to their surrogates.
In a written statement, Jay Khosla, health policy adviser for McCain, promised a sustained commitment to helping people in Africa and Asia cope with HIV/AIDS. Dora Hughes, health policy adviser for Obama, wrote that “a comprehensive, long-term approach to combating HIV/AIDS is an important investment in our common security and our common humanity.”
COMBATING HIV/AIDS
If elected president, Obama would provide at least $50 billion by 2013 for the global fight against HIV/AIDS and would increase contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. According to Hughes, Obama wants to double the number of HIV-positive individuals currently being treated and increase the number of health care workers by at least 1 million.
Khosla said McCain consistently has supported PEPFAR and other international assistance measures to combat the spread of disease. A McCain administration would “fund HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs at levels befitting a wealthy and great nation, while also pursuing the eradication of malaria — the Number 1 killer of children in Africa under the age of 5.”
Both campaigns pledged to work to eradicate not only HIV/AIDS but also tuberculosis and malaria. Hughes said Obama would double U.S. foreign assistance from $25 billion to $50 billion per year to ensure the United States does its share to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, including halving the number of people who die of tuberculosis and/or are affected by malaria.
Khosla, representing the McCain campaign, said that “no number of development initiatives can succeed as long as the populations they serve go thirsty and hungry. The recent U.S. commitment to a public-private partnership to deliver clean water to 10 million Africans by 2010 is just one example of how the U.S. can help bring basic necessities to needy populations.”
STOPPING BIOTERRORISM
The threat of a biological weapon attack anywhere in the world is an issue of serious concern to both candidates.
According to Khosla, “John McCain will continue to support additional research and funding into the development of countermeasures to be used against biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear agents while also supporting additional funding to be used to work on threats posed by avian flu.”
Hughes said Obama would “invest in new vaccines and technology to detect attacks and to trace them to their origin, so that we can react in a timely fashion.”
As president, McCain would ensure that U.S. health officials work with their counterparts from around the world and international groups like the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization and the International Red Cross to identify and prevent the spread of potentially contagious viruses.
Obama has pledged to invest $5 billion over three years to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to dissolve terrorist networks. He also would expand the U.S. government’s biological forensics program for tracking the source of any biological weapon and work with the international community to make any use of disease as a weapon declared a crime against humanity.
More information about Scientists and Engineers for America, a video of the health issues debate and information about future presidential debates on science issues is available on the organization’s Web site.
Additional information about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is available on its Web site.
