Baltimore Sun: President’s budget would leave U.S. more vulnerable to global health security threats
Tom Inglesby, Anita Cicero, and Jennifer Nuzzo, all faculty at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

“…Cuts to global health security programs in the president’s proposed budget … are a drastic move in the wrong direction. … The proposed budget would cut … CDC’s Global Health programs, including cuts to Global Disease Detection and other programs that train and prepare countries to diagnose and respond to emerging diseases, and to the Global Immunization Program. … Critically important U.S. global health security initiatives are now threatened as well. Global health funding at USAID and the State Department would be cut by more than $2 billion … largely in the form of reductions to programs responding to leading global health killers: HIV, TB, and malaria, among other serious diseases. The world-renowned PEPFAR program … would shrink … Taken together, all of these programs have saved millions of lives and are building the capabilities that are needed for early warning of and rapid response to major new epidemics. Congress should recognize the extraordinary benefits these programs bring to security, health, and U.S. diplomacy and should provide steady funding for them, at minimum consistent with [the] FY17 level of support. It’s an essential investment for this country, and for the world” (6/16).