Biden Administration’s Proposed Budget Fails to Meet Critical Global Health Needs

Yesterday, ​​the Biden-Harris Administration released the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, which includes nearly $10.6 billion to support critical global health programs at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. This request, following a disappointing level of funding in the FY22 budget and still uncertain emergency supplemental funding for the COVID-19 response, continues a deeply concerning trend of insufficient funding and attention that fails to adequately address the ongoing pandemic and its devastating impacts across a range of health areas.

 As one of the leading membership organizations devoted to advancing global health priorities,  Global Health Council (GHC) is disappointed that the President’s Budget does not go nearly far enough to address the world’s most pressing health challenges. While we were pleased to see a significant contribution to the Global Fund and global health security initiatives, many global health programs were either flat funded, or worse, decreased. For example, the U.S. assessed contribution to the World Health Organization was flat funded and funding for UNICEF was cut by $3.5 million. Such stagnant or diminished resources will set us back substantially in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and maintaining the global health progress that U.S. funding has helped to advance over the past several decades.

 “​​The U.S. has played a critical role in fighting diseases, establishing effective programs, and bolstering health systems throughout the world,” said Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, Global Health Council President and CEO. “However, the President’s proposed budget request falls far short of the need. Achieving our goals under such constraints will be far more difficult if not impossible. This, combined with urgent disease threats, is jeopardizing progress, making it more difficult to reach our goals, and threatening the health and wellbeing of people everywhere.

 As the FY23 budget process continues, we urge the Biden Administration to work with Congress to finalize a spending package that dramatically increases U.S. global health investments. For our part, GHC will continue to advocate to lawmakers to pass the urgently needed COVID-19 supplemental funding package that will help the administration achieve its pandemic response goals to vaccinate the world and save lives now.

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Global Health Council is the leading membership organization devoted to advancing global health priorities by uniting advocates, implementers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. Using the power of our community’s collective voice, we work across disease areas to drive sustainable funding and equitable policies that improve global health and well-being for all.

Learn more at www.globalhealth.org.  Follow GHC on Twitter for more information.

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Juliet Glassroth
Juliet@GlassrothCreativeStrategies.com