Advocacy Updates ~ November 30, 2020

November 30, 2020

Congressional News

Appropriations negotiations continue

House and Senate appropriators have spent recent days negotiating topline spending levels for all twelve FY21 spending bills and will likely push for an omnibus to pass them as a larger package. COVID-19 emergency supplemental negotiations are also still crawling along, albeit barely. Recently Senator Portman said he is working on a bipartisan proposal for a narrow COVID-19 aid bill that focuses on areas of common ground.

Securing America from Epidemics Act Passes House

The Securing America from Epidemics Act, H.R. 6334, authorizing U.S. participation in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) passed the House on suspension. The bill has now passed in the House four times. This show of support from Members in the House will be critical when it is time to make contributions to CEPI later on.

Senate releases FY21 Appropriations bills

While no committee markups are planned at this point in time, GHC wants to point out a few key items:

  • Global Health programs in SFOPs have a topline of $9.3 billion, an increase of $161.1 million.
  • Global health security funding at USAID was increased by $175 million to $275 million.
  • Additional reporting is required to provide more clarity towards multilateral institutions.
  • USAID’s Emergency Reserve fund was not included.
  • The Senate reiterated support for the U.S.-Africa Institute.
  • Global health security funding at CDC received a $45 million increase to $228.2 million.
  • CDC’s Infectious Disease Rapid Response Fund did not receive an increase.
  • Appropriators recommend $865 million for MCH and $150 million for nutrition.

The explanatory statement for the SFOPs bill is available here.

The explanatory statement for L/HHS is available here.

The explanatory statement for Ag/FDA is available here.

Bill text, highlights, and other information can be found here.

Multilateral News

World Health Assembly

The resumed 73rd World Health Assembly took place November 9-13. Delegates addressed a number of topics, but the overarching focus was on COVID-19, health emergencies, and WHO reform efforts. Non-state actors had limited opportunities to engage in substantive discussion. Global Health Council will provide recommendations to WHO for future virtual engagement with non-state actors based on the experience at the Assembly. 

You can find the Director General’s closing remarks here. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response presentation to the resumed WHA is available here.

Sanitation and Hygiene Fund launches

On November 17, the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund launched. The fund is specifically focused on sanitation and hygiene, and sustainable WASH in healthcare facilities. The Fund will invest in country-led programs to accelerate progress in the following areas: scaling-up household sanitation and hygiene services; addressing menstrual health and hygiene gaps while promoting empowerment of women and girls; increasing sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene and MHH services in schools and healthcare facilities; supporting innovation towards safely managed sanitation, hygiene and MHH. You can find out more about the fund here.

Global Health Security Agenda Ministerial Meeting

The sixth Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Ministerial meeting, hosted by the Thai government took place November 18-20, with the theme “Bridging Cooperative Action for Global Health Security.” A full list of commitments from the meeting can be found here.

G20 Health Ministers Declaration

Recently, G20 health ministers issued a declaration that expresses support for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), strengthening WHO’s mandate in coordinating the international fight against the pandemic, improving value in health systems, digital health, patient safety, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). You can read the full statement here

2020 World Malaria Report

The 2020 edition of the World Malaria Report reviews key milestones that helped shape the global response over the last twenty years. Featuring detailed analysis of the burden of malaria at global, regional, and country levels – it tracks investments and research as well as progress across all intervention areas. You can read the report here.