“As the federal government works to reform America’s beleaguered health system, the State Department’s new Office of Global Health Diplomacy is trying integrate the U.S. government’s international health aid efforts and help governments in developing countries create sustainable health care funding and care models,” Government Health IT reports, highlighting a town hall discussion with Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the State Department’s Office of Global Health Diplomacy and U.S. global AIDS coordinator, at the Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday. “While poverty, political upheaval and related problems of terrorism remain as prime challenges to the U.S. and other industrialized countries providing sustainable health care aid, Goosby said, multi-institution collaboration, planning and financial management has the potential to help developing countries craft programs around their needs,” the news service writes.

“In addition to on-the-ground aid — such as malaria, AIDS and maternal and children’s health care programs — Goosby said the emerging global health diplomacy paradigm model needs also to focus on technical cooperation and assistance, supporting the expansion of government health ministries and helping them design plans that meet their populations’ needs,” according to Government Health IT (Brino, 2/28). “‘[C]ountry ownership’ was a thread that wove his talk together, as one of the areas ‘that has converged’ to make for a ‘remarkable moment,'” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog notes. The blog adds that Goosby discussed the importance of including civil society in planning (Barton/Aziz, 2/28). A webcast of the event is available on the Kaiser Family Foundation webpage (2/28).