Future Of Health, Development ‘Hangs In The Balance’ Under Trump Administration

JAMA: How Will President Trump’s Policies Affect Domestic and Global Health and Development?
Lawrence O. Gostin, professor and faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and director of the WHO’s Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights

“There is still a great deal we don’t know about the policies of a Trump administration, and how those policies will unfold in a constitutional system of checks and balances. … Based on Trump’s earlier statements, what can we expect for 2017 and beyond? … Trump has not signaled diminished support for [PEPFAR or the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria], but international health assistance probably will be flat-lined, possibly reduced. This will maintain the U.S. support for antiretroviral treatment in Africa and elsewhere, but would do little to expand coverage. President Obama’s signature global health achievement is not likely to fair as well. His $1 billion Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) is strengthening health systems in lower-income countries. President Obama also advocated for U.S. leadership and funding during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks during his term. Trump would be less likely to push Congress to renew GHSA funding or allocate major resources to fight the next global health emergency. … The United States has historically exercised global health leadership, while sharply increasing health insurance coverage domestically under the Obama administration. As Trump takes office with the promise to ‘put America first,’ what will that mean for our commitments to global health and progress toward universal health coverage? The future of health, development, and the environment hangs in the balance” (2/21).

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