Policy News

Washington Post–Haiti earthquake relief efforts are still falling short
Nearly one month after an earthquake brought Haiti to a halt, the Washington Post reports that evidence is everywhere on the island that current relief efforts may soon fall short as the immediate emergency response phase fades. Despite the good intentions of the United States and the world community, weary relief workers say the coming weeks will severely test the resolve of those foreign contributors and the resourcefulness of a Haitian government that remains all but invisible. From surgery to shelter to sanitation to schooling, the needs are vast and the international commitment unproven.

AFP–Freeze on HIV spending sparks concern in Africa
U.S. plans to slow spending on treatment for HIV in several African countries has prompted concern on the continent that some of the gains made against the AIDS epidemic since 2003 could be reversed, the AFP reports. While PEPFAR, launched in 2003, originally focused largely on treating patients in the most urgent need, the program has started to shift away from emergency treatment. This switch in emphasis means that clinics are now being forced to turn new patients away, say some health workers on the ground.

Reuters–WTO’s Lamy says Doha deal still possible in 2010
A successful conclusion to the Doha round of global trade talks is still possible in 2010, but would need an injection of political energy, World Trade Organisation head Pascal Lamy said this morning. He said the upcoming G20 summit in Canada in June would be a key test of political will for the Doha round of negotiations. The Doha round of trade talks was launched in late 2001 to free up world trade and help poor countries prosper by opening up markets and cutting tariffs and subsidies in rich countries. But the 153-nation talks collapsed in 2008 over a dispute between the United States and Europe, and India and China, on protection for farmers in rich economies and shields for industrial goods coming from developing nations.

Reuters–Rapid city growth threat to Africa’s development: UN
Rapid and chaotic urbanisation is threatening sustainable development in Africa, the U.N said Monday, but taking steps to mitigate climate change could help tackle some of the problems of cities. The populations of large, fast-expanding cities in Africa, such as Lagos in Nigeria, are set to continue growing at annual rates of around 4 percent, putting pressure on the provision of housing and basic needs and services. The impact of climate change has exacerbated existing social and economic problems, forcing many farmers away from their villages to become “environmental refugees” in big cities.

NY Times–Ally for the Poor in an Unlikely Corner
The New York Times profiles Andrew Witty, the chief executive of the world’s second-largest drug company GlaxoSmithKline, saying that he is doing more for the worlds poor than any other leader of Big Pharma. I want GSK to be a very successful company, but not by leaving the population of Africa behind, Mr. Witty said. That tone is still rare in an industry once pilloried for keeping its prices up while millions died. But after Witty spent 10 years in Africa and Asia, he was inspired to change that. Among many other innovative practices, Witty has promised to keep the prices of all Glaxo drugs in poor countries to no more than 25 percent of what was charged in rich ones, and to donate one-fifth of all profits made in poor countries toward building their health systems.

Financial Times–Brazil enters fray for African resources
Brazil, South Americas largest economy, is stepping up its involvement in the scramble for Africas resources, the Financial Times reports. While Chinese and Indian commercial ties with the continent are more developed and have attracted greater attention, Brazils arrival in Africa is part of the same pattern that has seen the continents traditional partners in the west compete against a range of emerging market players for resources and influence. As a bloc, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) trade with Africa has increased as a proportion of all the continents trade from 4.6 per cent in 1993 to more than 19 per cent in 2008. Economists estimate that by 2030, almost 50 per cent of Africas trade will be with the Brics.

BBC News: G7 nations pledge debt relief for quake-hit Haiti:
“Canada’s finance minister announced at a summit in Iqaluit, northern Canada, that Group of Seven countries planned to cancel Haiti’s bilateral debts. Jim Flaherty said he would encourage international lenders to do the same.”

Washington Post: In Haiti, cooperation among aid groups is unprecedented:
“There has been an unprecedented degree of cooperation among aid groups in Haiti, especially in comparison with the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the only rival to this catastrophe in terms of outpouring of medical help. Three things are responsible — the nature of the injuries, improvements in communication and an awareness that victims will suffer if relief groups don’t cooperate.”

The East African: Bottom-up poverty plan for Africa needed:
“European leaders and US President Barack Obama, who has called for a new global plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, are already on board. A new plan can avoid the pitfalls of past top-down approaches — if it supports a more bottom-up, citizen-led strategy for sustainable development.”

Ghana Agency News: UNICEF launches $1.2 billion appeal to help women and children in crises:
“Accra, Feb. 5, GNA – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday launched an appeal for $1.2 billion to provide life-saving emergency support to women and children impacted by severe humanitarian crises around the world, including the Haitian earthquake.”

NYT: Bill Clinton, in Haiti, Emphasizes Urgent Need for Sanitation and Health Care:
“Mr. Clinton praised the progress being made in the relief effort, especially in addressing the need for food, shelter and security, but he expressed a growing sense of urgency about the country’s requirements for sanitation and health care. ‘We learned a lot from the tsunami relief effort, and the United Nations and the international community worked in a far more coordinated fashion this time,’ he said while touring the Gheskio health clinic in the Bicentenaire neighborhood. ‘But we can still do better, and one of the areas that I think we have to improve is sanitation.’

The Financial Times: Chilly response to Canada’s G7 agenda
The Financial Times reports that the Group of Seven (G7), conscious of its increasing irrelevance, will today get back to basics when finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s biggest industrialized economies gather to discuss financial regulation and global imbalances. But the location of this weekend’s meeting – a small town south of the Arctic Circle – is anything but ordinary and has raised more than a few eyebrows. According to Jim Flaherty, Canada’s finance minister and host of the meeting, the choice of location was partially political, saying “It’s one of our government’s priorities, the assertion of our sovereignty in the Arctic.” According to the Times, the agenda includes financial sector reform, protectionism and a forum on development issues, focusing on how to help Haiti after last month’s devastating earthquake.

The Citizen (Tanzania): World Bank wants revision of ties with Africa
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Thursday that the World Bank has reiterated its desire for a shift in its relations with Africa and other clients in order to make its services more effective. Mr. Zoellick, who has been touring Africa this week, said that he came to the continent to better understand Africa’s needs so as to make the bank’s assistance more responsive. According to the Citizen, the Bank President’s indication of a change of direction on the World Bank’s relations with Africa comes hot on the heels of increasing criticism from activists that aid programs from multilateral institutions and wealthy nations have failed to make a difference in Africa.

The Canadian Press: Climate change likely to make it harder to feed 1 billion hungry: CIDA chief
Head of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Margaret Biggs, said that poor countries are still gripped by the food crisis of two years ago and climate change will only make things tougher in the coming years. According to the Canadian Press, her remarks are some of the strongest to date by a Canadian official on the subject of climate security, including the notion that climate change will have serious security effects such as forcing mass migrations of people, loss of coastal areas and possible conflict. Food security is expected to be a key part of the G8’s outreach to poor countries at the summit Canada is hosting this summer. Said Biggs, “In some areas, climate patterns are exacerbating some of these tendencies. Arable land and water is becoming scarcer in some cases because of climate change. It doesn’t mean we can’t adapt…but that’s a major new dynamic.”

The Canadian Press: US puts locals in charge of AIDS spending; groups say that could mean savings in tough times
U.S. and South African AIDS workers argue that putting more of the decision-making in local hands can help stretch donor money, amid concerns international giving will be limited because of the global recession, the Canadian Press reports. Since 2004, the U.S. government has funded a project for AIDS patients in rural South Africa through the U.S. charity organization, Catholic Relief Services (CSR). However, in a significant shift made official this week, the U.S. will now directly pay South Africans with whom the U.S. Catholics have been working. What may seem like a small bureaucratic step is significant, said Ruth Stark, head of CRS in South Africa. Stark said she has already seen savings as officials prepared for the hand-over, including new jobs. “The cost difference is huge,” Stark said.

The Punch (Nigeria): Nigeria to distribute 63m mosquito treated nets in 2010 – Minister
The Nigerian Minister of Health said Thursday that 63 million mosquito treated nets would be distributed throughout the country this year, of which 15 million have already been distributed in several states. The Minister expressed concern over the fact that malaria has continued to remain a major cause of death in Nigeria. He also highlighted several other factors which result from high rates of malaria, including absenteeism from schools, low academic performance and strain on hospitals throughout the country.

Over the past few days on the ONE blog, we’ve been offering you our analysis of President Obama’s 2011 budget request. I thought I would add a few thoughts of my own, with a quick look at how some of ONE’s key priorities fared.

• As we mentioned in an earlier post, the International Affairs budget appears to have increased by $6.1 billion from 2010. But on Monday, the Obama Administration also released details for its 2010 supplemental budget request (additional funds needed for projects that were unknown at the time of the original budget process). If we add these numbers to the 2010 budget base, the difference between the 2010 and 2011 budget actually shrinks to $1.6 billion—a huge difference.

  It’s an important point to note, particularly since the International Affairs budget escaped President Obama’s budget freeze (for issues of national security). A $6.1 billion increase would have painted a rather large bull’s-eye on our priorities moving forward, but a $1.6 billion increase makes that target a whole lot smaller.

• While the 2011 budget does keep us on a path to double foreign assistance (as President Obama promised earlier), it’s important to keep in mind the fact that that commitment to double was intended to achieve a set of even more important qualitative commitments—such as the commitments made to the global health initiative, enhancing food security, improving access to education, and boosting the capacity of USAID and the Peace Corps. While the total numbers are definitely on the rise, sixty percent of the proposed increases for FY2011 are intended for just three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. ONE did some work when the President first took office that showed that it WOULD be possible to meet those important development goals with the resources made available through a doubling—but as more of the growth goes to strategic states, there’s less of a chance that all of the development goals will be met.
• Agriculture is a big budget winner, with the Administration requesting an additional $750 million for the “Global Hunger and Food Security” initiative. With this new boost, the Administration notes that it’s met its G8 pledge from L’Aquila, Italy ($3.5 billion over 3 years). What’s most important now is to see the detailed policy plans to see how these scaled up resources will be used.
• On Monday, the Administration also released its policy analysis of the Global Health Initiative. ONE has been pleased to see a more comprehensive approach to global health. The budget includes a proposed $351 million increase for maternal and child health and a $108 million increase for Neglected Tropical Diseases and other public threats. But it’s important that the resources are made available to meet ALL of the goals set out in the new strategy. It’s also important that as the strategy takes on new critical areas, that momentum on infectious disease not be lost. In particular, we were disappointed to see a $50 million cut for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) saw only a $12 million increase—far below their actual need. We’ll keep working with our partners to push these funding levels up and we’ll keep you posted on our progress in the days and months ahead.

Politico: Protection for women a top foreign policy priority (Op-Ed, Sen. John Kerry)
A group of policymakers and NGO leaders, including Senator John Kerry and Executive Director of Amnesty International, Larry Cox, argue that women around the world should not have to accept abuse and extreme poverty. To combat this critical issue, a bipartisan coalition will introduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) today, which the article authors believe “supports the efforts of President Obama and Secretary Clinton to rightly put women at the very center of a broad global security agenda that factors in the great challenges of our decade and invests in the world’s peacemakers.” The article concludes with the powerful statement that the “IVAWA is the first step in making women a central focal point in U.S. foreign policy and allows the United States to join with them in their struggle to stop the violence.”

Reuters: New malaria vaccine shows promise in children
U.S. researchers said Wednesday that a new vaccine showed promise at protecting young children from malaria, offering a potential new weapon against a disease that kills at least one million people each year. Reuters reports that in a study of 100 West African children, the experimental vaccine produced immune responses similar to or even higher than those of adults infected by malaria all their lives. The vaccine, which uses an immune system booster called an adjuvant, targets the malaria parasite as it is actively infecting red blood cells and causing fever and illness, which researchers believe helps to prime the children’s immune system to develop a robust response.

AllAfrica.com: Continent Ripe for Citizen-Led Development Plan (Op-Ed)
Anti-corruption campaigner, John Githongo and ONE Executive Director, Jamie Drummond, argue that Africa can continue to achieve sustainable development by establishing a new citizens’ compact. According to the authors, this bottom-up approach would ensure that development is devolved and that the integrity of leaders and governance institutions firmly take centre stage. Githongo and Drummond lay out three measures for Africa, including budget transparency and private investments, which they believe “can increase the effects of much-needed new investments to boost education, agriculture and health and fight infectious diseases and climate change.”

Huffington Post: In Rebuilding Haiti, Fighting HIV/AIDS Must be a Top Priority (Op-Ed)
Executive Board Member of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, David Furnish, argues that the earthquake left nothing untouched in Haiti, including the significant progress that has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to Furnish, treatment and testing clinics were leveled, medical staff was tragically killed, and congested roads have made it difficult for what life-saving supplies remain to reach the people who need them. However, the author argues that the process of rebuilding Haiti is an opportunity to address the longstanding health and social challenges that have resulted in still-too-high infection rates. Said Furnish, “Without confronting these challenges, HIV/AIDS prevalence could increase to previous levels and compromise all other rebuilding and recovery efforts.”

The National Post (Canada): The unconscionable global toll of death during childbirth (Op-Ed)
Despite there being well-known solutions to some of the most catastrophic maternal health issues, Canadian Liberal MP and physician, Dr. Keith Martin argues that the area receives little attention and resources from international donors. Martin applauds the Canadian government’s recent announcement that maternal and child health will be on the agenda at this summer’s G8 Summit in Ontario, but emphasizes that “the summit cannot be just another milquetoast, feel-good document.” Rather, the doctor calls for leaders to announce a comprehensive International Action Plan to reduce childhood and maternal mortality, which includes strategic investments in access to primary care and funding to train skilled workers in countries with the greatest needs.

Ethiopian Review: World Bank, Microsoft Sign Agreement to Promote Development in Africa
Ethiopian Review reports that the World Bank and Microsoft have announced a new partnership that will seek to reinforce social and economic development in Africa by leveraging information and communication technology (ICT). Under the agreement, the World Bank and Microsoft will develop programs to support several of the World Bank’s core development priorities across Sub-Saharan Africa, including science and technology, developing the local software economy and local ICT skills, enhancing remittances technology, and building Sub-Saharan Africa’s disaster response capabilities. Said the World Bank Vice President for Africa, “Our goal is to help bring the region into today’s knowledge society and build its own internal resources to support the creation of competitive local economies.”

The Wall Street Journal: Liquid Asset
The Wall Street Journal explores the politically sensitive issue of putting a price on water, arguing that “realizing the true value of mankind’s most precious resource might be the best way of ensuring the world doesn’t run dry.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently called the issue of water scarcity one of the greatest threats to health, safety, economic growth, human rights and national security. However, according to Piet Klop, senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, a Washington D.C., think tank, the fact that “water is way too cheap” is another problem that is often overlooked. Klop argues that in most of the world, the price of water is a far cry from what its scarcity value suggests it should be, which encourages wastefulness and means there is not enough revenue to invest in water infrastructure.

The Wall Street Journal: Haiti Needs to Be Built, Not Rebuilt (Op-Ed)
Director of the UNC Global Research Institute, Dr. Peter Coclanis, argues that the “Marshall Plan for Haiti” that is being touted as a potential recovery plan for the earthquake-ravaged country, has little chance of succeeding. According to Coclanis, what is required to put Haiti on sound economic footing is much different than what Europe or Japan faced in 1948. Instead, Coclanis urges policy makers to focus on creating the conditions—economic, political, public health, educational and cultural—necessary to put Haiti onto the first foothold of the development ladder. Said Coclanis, “Before the quake there were more than 10,000 nongovernmental organizations in Haiti feeding the poor, providing health services and much more. This fact alone should give the world pause. Haiti doesn’t need to be rebuilt. It needs to be built from the ground up.”

The Independent (Uganda): One Year of Obama: Any Change for Africa?
The Independent assesses how Obama’s presidency has served Africa one year into his first term in office. The paper argues that “as an American with a Kenyan father, Obama’s foreign policy could have been expected to hold Africa as a greater priority than previous administrations,” however, “thus far, no intrinsically new solutions have been articulated by the Obama administration.” The Independent highlights the recently released Africa Policy Outlook 2010, which underlines poverty, climate change and HIV/AIDS as the major challenges for America’s 2010 Africa policy. The paper concludes by saying, “Let us hope President Obama will rise to those challenges.”

Reuters: World Bank hops on China’s African express
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday that the World Bank is working with China to develop a manufacturing sector in Africa and potentially transform the economies of the poorest continent. According to Zoellick, developing a domestic factory sector would go a long way towards cutting these costs, as well as creating jobs and accelerating industrialization. Despite his praise for China’s investment in Africa, however, Zoellick said too many projects tended to rely on imported Chinese labor to the detriment of African skills development. Said the Bank President, “We’ve wanted to work with both Africa and China so that people get the full benefits.”

Reuters: Haiti aid operation still has way to go, U.N. says
Top UN relief official John Holmes said Tuesday that the aid operation in Haiti has been complicated and frustratingly slow, but is making significant progress, particularly in getting food to quake survivors. According to Holmes, providing shelter to an estimated 1 million homeless is first priority now that search and rescue efforts have ended and most life-threatening injuries have been treated. He also emphasized that overall the situation in the devastated capital is calm, apart from “isolated incidents of looting or attacks on convoys of food.” Said the UN official, “We still have a significant way to go before reaching everybody who needs food, and on the shelter side as well. This is a potentially volatile environment and we have to make sure it doesn’t degenerate from fights over food into more serious civil unrest.”

The Wall Street Journal: White House Proposes 9% Increase in Global-Health Funding
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration proposed a nine percent increase in funding for global health needs in its fiscal 2011 budget, pledging to spend more to combat preventable diseases and reduce deaths among women and children. The proposal was accompanied by the release of a set of ambitious targets to be achieved by 2014, including getting 1.6 million more people into drug treatment for HIV/AIDS, cutting the prevalence of malaria by 50 percent, and reducing the number of deaths of mothers and children under five years old. Officials emphasized that while the requested contribution to the Global Fund is less than the amount given last year, it is $100 million more than the amount requested last year.

The Washington Post: A crisis in Sudan (Op-ed, Jimmy Carter)
Humanitarian and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter brings attention to the renewal of nationwide violence in the Sudan, calling it one of “the most urgent responsibilities the international community faces.” President Carter’s own organization, the Carter Center, has been working to instill peace in the nation for more than 20 years, however, he fears that recent disputes over insufficient government funding, border lines and the permanent division of oil wealth and infrastructure, threaten to undo all of the progress from the past two decades. President Carter calls for the international community to intercede in order to ensure “sustained support for the faltering progress toward peace and democracy.”

Reuters: Bill Clinton to coordinate Haiti relief efforts
Reuters reports that former U.S. President Bill Clinton, currently the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, will be named international coordinator for relief efforts in the earthquake-devastated country. Speaking on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been formally announced, U.N. diplomats and officials said Clinton was the most obvious choice to coordinate aid and reconstruction in the impoverished Caribbean nation. The former president has been actively involved in the Haiti relief effort from the beginning and has already visited the country to witness the destruction for himself. Clinton called for short and long-term funds while meeting with global leaders in Davos, Switzerland last week.

The New York Times: Countries Submit Emission Goals
The New York Times reports that the climate change accord reached at Copenhagen in December passed its first test on Monday after countries responsible for the bulk of climate-altering pollution formally submitted their emission reduction plans, meeting the agreement’s Jan. 31 deadline. Most major nations — including the United States, the 27 nations of the European Union, China, India, Japan and Brazil — restated earlier pledges to curb emissions by 2020, some by promising absolute cuts, others by reducing the rate of increase from a business-as-usual curve. However, analysts said that even if all nations met their promises, the world would still be on a path to exceed the Copenhagen agreement’s central goal of limiting global warming to less than 3.6 degrees above the pre-industrial era.

BuaNews (South Africa): UN to Hold MDG Summit
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the UN will hold a summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September, according to South Africa’s BuaNews. The summit is to take place along with the opening of the General Assembly, where leaders of the 192 UN Member States meet each year at its Headquarters in New York. The Secretary General pledged to mobilize support to tackle the critical challenges threatening peace and prosperity across Africa, including extreme poverty, economic and social well-being, and the ravages of climate change. Said Ban Ki-Moon, “We have made great strides toward the Millennium Development Goals, but there is not much time to the 2015 deadline, and still much distance to travel.”

The Huffington Post: Narrowing Down Davos: Targeting Chronic Disease and Empowering Women in Developing Nations (Op-Ed)
CEO of Tupperware Brands Corporation Rick Goings reports on his experiences at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, highlighting the need to help women and children in the developing world. According to Goings, it is women and girls who can lead countries out of poverty, emphasizing that it is women who are “much more likely to think ‘we’ instead of ‘me.’ The CEO calls for businesses to play a bigger role in supporting women, offering the idea of developing more corporate health initiatives as a potential way to get involved. Said Goings, “Chronic disease and the fate of women in developing nations are epic issues. But separate them from the far larger issues of global health and gender parity and they at least seem manageable and surmountable.”

Yesterday President Obama released his budget request for the FY2011. The Millennium Challenge Account, which funds the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), saw an increase of $175 million over last year, bringing the total to $1.28 billion for FY2011. Last year Congress approved $1.08 billion for the MCA.

We welcome this increase as a harbinger of continued interest in the MCC, which is especially exciting considering the difficult economic climate. We were concerned that given the budget environment, the MCA could have taken a hit and been unable to fund crucial compacts in the pipeline like those of Zambia and Malawi.

The MCC is a unique foreign assistance institution that support country-led development plans. The MCC focuses specifically on supporting programs that reduce poverty by encouraging sustainable economic growth through market-based investments in agriculture, infrastructure, water, education, private sector development, and capacity building. The MCC selects countries to receive assistance based on their performance on 17 policy indicators. Countries then construct a “compact” which outlines the greatest barriers to their own development and proposes initiatives to address those hurdles. The MCC currently has compacts with 11 sub-Saharan Africa countries, valued at a total of approximately $5 billion.

Several countries are in the process of compact development and are expected to complete and sign those compacts in FY2011, including Malawi, Zambia, Cape Verde, and Indonesia. While the increase in the account is very exciting, it may not be enough to fully fund the two or three compacts that could come due next year.

We’ll also be keeping an eye on the MCC as the institution settles in with their new CEO, and contemplates possible reforms—like concurrent and regional compacts. The budget request may be in, but be sure to check back here for other MCC developments.

President Obama just released his budget request for fiscal year 2011. Despite all the tough times that we are all facing, President Obama not only increased overall development assistance to the world’s poor, but he made unparalleled increases in development assistance to agriculture and food security. Investing in agriculture is critical to reducing poverty and meeting global food security needs because it provides much needed employment, income, food and opportunity for the majority of poor people.

Ever since the food crisis erupted in 2008, the U.S. government made several commitments to address this catastrophe. The first was to double development assistance to agriculture over 2008 levels. The second was to provide $3.5 billion over three years as part of the “Global Food Security Initiative,” (GFSI) announced at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy last July. There are still more than 1 billion people suffering from hunger – the highest number ever recorded – so our jobs are not done. But, we can recognize strong efforts, accomplishments and follow-through when we see it, and the President’s 2011 budget request on food security is just that.

The FY2011 budget request increases development assistance to agriculture by $750 million over 2010 levels, which, if we include funding for nutrition, adds up to fulfilling a commitment to provide $3.5 billion over 3 years. In addition, the U.S. has also leveraged $18 billion from other donors.

The process by which the Obama Administration has taken forward this initiative is also admirable. As part of a broader effort to improve the quality of U.S. foreign assistance, the GFSI takes a “whole of government approach.” This means that even though the State Department is leading the charge, they have consulted with all government agencies that are involved in agricultural development such as USAID, USDA and USTR to develop a comprehensive inter-agency food security strategy. Inter-agency coordination is crucial to increasing the effectiveness of US assistance abroad by minimizing cost, duplication of efforts and ensuring the approach looks at all related development sectors like health, nutrition and education holistically.

While this is all a lot to be thankful for, we must view this success in context. This is just a milestone on the road to poverty reduction. Increased funding and sustained momentum are still needed to tackle the food crisis, especially after you take into account the impacts of the financial crisis and climate change on poor people. Quality is also equally important as quantity when it comes to aid: we need to ensure that these funds are spent in the most effective way possible to increase food security. ONE is calling on the U.S. to provide greater transparency on their financial and operational commitments and continue to be a strong global leader in mobilizing other G8 members and donors to follow suit.

In a period of intense fiscal restraint, domestically and globally, there are going to be many global health and development advocates that are displeased by the release of President Obama’s FY2011 Budget Request today. But as one of ONE’s newest employees—and only a month out from my previous job doing policy work for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases—I have to admit that I’m quietly wearing my party hat after seeing President Obama’s request of $155 million for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

At ONE, we recognize that there is no silver bullet to fighting poverty in Africa and across the developing world; similarly there is no one intervention that will ensure that those living in poverty can enjoy good and sustainable health. Yet the scale of the NTD infections around the world—more than one billion people are infected—also suggests that a growing US financial commitment to NTD control means we can make a cross-cutting impact on the diseases that are perhaps the most common denominator for the world’s poorest people.

The NTD story is a remarkable one: thanks to unprecedented donation programs from major pharmaceutical companies, we can treat all seven of the most common NTDs for just 50 cents per person, per year. Hundreds of millions of people have benefitted from this simple, cost-effective treatment; 546 million people were treated for one NTD (elephantiasis) alone in 2007! Yet these diseases still remain largely unknown. Advocacy groups including the Global Network work to promote global awareness, and the Gates Foundation dedicates substantial funding to support the creation of regional financing mechanisms to absorb new investments for NTDs. Still, many leaders across the public and private sectors have a difficult time advocating and providing funding for diseases with bizarre names like “schistosomiasis.”

That’s where high level leadership comes in. Though President Bush was better-known for his landmark investments in HIV/AIDS, he also made the US’ first major commitment to NTDs, recommending that $350 million over five years be dedicated to NTD control and elimination efforts. With the Global Health Initiative and now in his budget, President Obama has transitioned and grown President Bush’s work on NTDs, and has signaled that the US can be a leader in NTD control efforts, including a push for elimination targets around lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and leprosy.

The magnitude of NTDs is so great—approximately one in six people worldwide are infected—that the problem can seem daunting or intractable. But particularly at a point in which funding for other global accounts was not as high as we hoped, ONE members can applaud President Obama for his expanded commitment to NTD control and for ensuring that the US can one day claim a major role in the elimination of many of these horrific diseases.

We’ll have more analysis of President Obama’s FY2011 Budget soon.