Global-Health Groups Upset by President’s Budget Proposal

President Obama’s proposal to spend $8.6-billion next year on what he dubbed a “new, comprehensive global-health strategy” has drawn ire from some global-health charities, which say he has requested far less to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria than he had previously pledged.

In a statement released this week and in the budget proposal released today, Mr. Obama described a new approach to global health that would support President Bush’s popular President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief while also putting greater emphasis on efforts to prevent deaths of mothers and children and improving health systems in poor countries.

Mr. Obama’s budget proposal calls for $63-billion to be spent over six years, approximately $51-billion of which would be spent to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The budget calls for increases of $366-million this year for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs, and $100-million more for projects focused on other health priorities.

But some health activists expressed disappointment. Joanne Carter, executive director of the advocacy group Results, said the figures were far less than what was called for in legislation passed last summer to extend the AIDS fund. And as a candidate, Mr. Obama had pledged to increase spending on the AIDS fund by $1-billion a year.

“The president fails to put us on a path to meeting objectives laid out in that legislation,” she said in a conference call today. Ms. Carter said the president’s plan “halts the dramatic scale up of funding we’ve seen” for AIDS under the Bush administration; provides “disturbingly low” support for fighting tuberculosis, and provides no increase in support for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

She and other health activists said they were alarmed that Mr. Obama seemed to be putting the breaks on expanding programs like Pepfar and the Global Fund, while the other priorities he emphasized — child and maternal health and improving local health systems — likewise would receive only small increases.

But others in the philanthropic and charity world were supportive of Mr. Obama’s budget proposal and his plan to integrate health priorities.

“Today, ‘Doctor Obama leads the next chapter in the U.S. response to global health crises, building on the record of results from the previous administration and bipartisan support from Congress,” Bono, the musician and One campaign founder, said on the charity’s blog.

Groups that work on so-called “neglected tropical diseases” such as hookworm and leprosy were also pleased with the president’s plans. Mr. Obama requested $70-million for such diseases, an 180 percent jump.