Science Speaks: Ken Mayer, Center’s co-chair, talks about Obama’s global health plan on NPR
15 JULY 2009
15 JULY 2009 - NPR’s Brenda Wilson takes a look at President Obama’s global health plan, with its new focus on maternal and child health. The hook for the story was a visit to the Capitol by some health officials from Afghanistan, but it pivots to a broader debate over the future of US global health spending and delves into the fear among HIV/AIDS experts that Obama’s new plan will short-change funding to combat the deadly AIDS epidemic at a critical moment.
Dr Mayer, co-chair of the Center’s Scientific Advisory Committee and a professor of medicine at Brown University, makes the point that PEPFAR has created a strong foundation that the government can use to broaden its global health efforts; we should not walk away from that in favor of the latest new idea, he says.