STAT: Can Clinton global health charity survive loss of former president’s clout?
“Bill Clinton has promised to leave the Clinton Foundation board if Hillary Clinton is elected president, but his potential departure from another Clinton charity could have far greater consequences for global health. Though it’s less well-known than the foundation, the Clinton Health Access Initiative has played a central role in bringing down drug prices in the developing world and helping governments in Africa and Asia build health care delivery systems. Known as CHAI, it relies so heavily on the former president, say global health experts, that his exit would raise a fundamental dilemma for the influential organization: Can it operate in any meaningful way without the Clinton clout? Global health experts fear that hard-won gains could be reversed absent Bill Clinton’s authority and his capacity to wring compromises from bottom-line oriented corporate leaders…” (Piller/Kaplan, 8/31).