Global Health in December

Happy December!

Looking ahead to a new U.S. Presidential administration and a new Congress, what will global health advocacy look like in the next few months? I just watched a really inspiring RESULTS webinar about this!

Our first priority today is calling U.S. Senators. 

A bipartisan COVID-19 response bill is in the works and it includes some funding to fight poverty in the America, like $25 billion in emergency rental assistance for the first quarter of 2021 and $26 billion in food and agriculture assistance-- consider that a "down payment" to build on, because activists are going to push for higher in future bills. Disappointinly, however, there is NO funding at all for a global response to the pandemic!

We applaud efforts to get badly needed COVID relief to low-income Americans, but it's incredibly short-sighted to neglect the global need to address the COVID-19 pandemic. So, please call your Senators and ask them to speak to Senators McConnell and Schumer about including a global response.

"Hi, my name is ______ and I'm a constituent. My ZIP code is _____. It's good to see bipartisan negotiations underway on a COVID-19 response bill, but I'm concerned that there's nothing in the current proposal for an international response. Will the Senator please speak to Senators McConnell and Schumer and urge them to include $20 billion in the COVID-19 response bill with the majority going to Gavi, the Global Fund, and global food and nutrition assistance? Thank you."

Shout-out to my friend Shruti who hosted a letter-writing workshop last week about this!

If you want to send a letter or email to the offices, too, that's fantastic! Using the ever-useful EPIC format for writing letters to Congress, here's a sample message: 

Engage: My name is _____ and I live in ______. It's good to see bipartisan negotiations underway on a COVID-19 response bill that includes emergency rental assistance and a boost to US nutrition assistance.

Problem: But we cannot beat COVID-19 in the US unless we beat it everywhere. There is nothing in the COVID-19 proposal to help low-income countries distribute the COVID-19 vaccines or address the other health and nutrition crises caused by COVID-19.

Inform: Frontline organizations like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance have done their best to fight COVID-19, but they need help to get us over the finish line.

Call to Action: Will the Senator please speak to Senators McConnell and Schumer and urge them to include $20 billion in the COVID-19 response bill with the majority going to Gavi, the Global Fund, and global food and nutrition assistance?

Okay, so we call Senators this weekend. Then what?

I'm super excited about RESULTS' 2021 global policy priorities: responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. leadership at the Global Partnership for Education's replenishment conference in July, and increasing support for nutrition and tuberculosis programs, which are woefully underfunded right now.

In high-income countries like the United States, we have to increase our support to global health programs. Morally, politically, economically, and medically, it is the proper response to a pandemic like COVID-19 and a cultural moment like 2020. It is imperative that we contribute the funding needed to end COVID-19 and regain our lost progress against AIDS, TB, and malaria. America has the resources to support everyday people through the economic crisis and flatten the curve within our borders while also saving millions of lives around the world, and Gavi and the Global Fund make it so easy for countries to plug in and get resources to where they need to go, on the ground in the Global South! There's no reason at all for vaccine hoarding and vaccine nationalism besides fear and racism. 

At the same time, within the area of global health advocacy, we have a lot of decolonization work to do. This is a really great article by Seye Abimola and Madhukar Pai (who was the guest speaker on the Use Your Outside Voice webinar!) that I read recently, "Will global health survive its decolonisation?" It put into perspective the importance of increasing global health while changing what "global health" looks like.

Privileged, white, male "experts" from high-income countries are grossly overrepresented in "global health" leadership positions, even though the people who deliver global health are Black and brown women in low/middle-income countries. The "expertise" of Western, Global North institutions is held up on a pedestal while Indigenous knowledge and local solutions from those closest to the problem are swept under the rug.

The global health community needs to be transformed and it needs to be well-funded. This is a massive undertaking, and it's one of the most important of our lives, on every level. 

One great way to stay involved after your first call or letter to Congress is to join a movement like RESULTS! Keep learning new skills to raise your voice and amplify others. Keep learning about global health and the needs of those most affected by the imbalances within it. Keep holding yourself and people in power accountable. Let's go!