GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports on the addition of 21 countries to the original group of eight Global Health Initiative (GHI) countries in a second round of selections. The Obama administration has “review[ed] detailed plans from each on main strategies and goals,” according to U.S. officials, the blog reports. The blog writes, “Unlike the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), GHI’s plan from the start was to spread its principles of better integration of programs and expanding into new health areas as quickly as possible.”

“The expansion of GHI principles to these 21 countries, though, doesn’t include a larger pool of funding,” the blog notes, adding, “The 21 countries in the second round are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Indonesia, Lesotho, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Ukraine, Vietnam, Botswana, Cambodia, Mozambique, Benin, South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Dominican Republic, Philippines, and Swaziland” (Donnelly, 11/5). GHI provides an executive summary (.pdf) of the Round 2 strategies, as well as some of the individual country strategies on its website (11/7).