US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he would ask Congress for US$63 billion over six years to battle chronic global health crises, including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The initiative, which officials said would increase levels of spending already pushed to historic heights by the administration of Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, will also target neglected tropical diseases, infant mortality and other health threats.
“We cannot wall ourselves off from the world and hope for the best, nor ignore the public health challenges beyond our borders,” Obama said in a statement.
“An outbreak in Indonesia can reach Indiana within days, and public health crises abroad can cause widespread suffering, conflict and economic contraction,” he said.
“That is why I am asking Congress to approve my Fiscal Year 2010 Budget request of US$8.6 billion and US$63 billion over six years to shape a new, comprehensive global health strategy,” Obama said.
As the US and other global powers monitored an outbreak of swine flu that started in Mexico, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton billed the global health initiative as a key plank of foreign policy.
“The President’s new global health initiative will be a crucial component of American foreign policy and a signature element of smart power,” Clinton said in a statement.
“Bringing better health to people around the globe is an avenue to a more secure, stable, and prosperous world,” she added.
“Our investments in programs to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and other preventable diseases save millions of lives, reduce maternal and child mortality, and reflect our nation’s leadership as a positive force for progress around the world,” she said.
US Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew told reporters that the US$8.6 billion for next fiscal year represented a US$459 million hike on spending over the figure requested by the Bush administration for this fiscal year.
“There is a substantial increase over the six-year period,” Lew told reporters.
During Bush’s two terms in office, the US pumped nearly US$19 billion into fighting AIDS in poor countries, saving many people who had been denied therapy that only rich economies could afford.
In 2002, Bush helped launch the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to which the US is the biggest single contributor. In 2003, he established the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, focusing on 15 countries, mainly in Africa.
Obama has already announced the framework of his budget, but will unveil a more intricate breakdown of his spending plans today.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not