At this clinic in Hangar, Benin, food is supplied from the U.S. by Catholic Relief Services. CRS' Benin Program is working to improve food security and the quality of life of poor families in rural and semi-urban areas. Photo by Sean Sprague for CRS.

Why is it important to invest in basic health?

• A recent report by the White House’s National Intelligence Council found that devastating diseases such as AIDS will “hurt prospects for transition to democratic regimes … undermine civil society, hamper the evolution of sound political and economic institutions, and intensify the struggle for power and resources.”
  
• Controlling the spread of infectious diseases, like SARS and West Nile Virus, in developing countries can help to protect the health of Americans because diseases do not respect borders.

How is the U.S. Government promoting basic health?

• America has responded to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the developing world by pledging $15 billion over the next five years for prevention, education, and treatment in 15 countries that aims to treat 2 million people. America has also helped combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in more than 50 of the hardest hit countries. Additionally, America is investing in early detection of other destabilizing infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria.

Progress has been made.

• In the developing world, the number of children under five years old dying from common, treatable diseases has decreased by 15 percent since 1989 due to better medical care for mothers and their infants.
  
• Over the last 20 years, the number of immunized children in developing countries rose from 5 percent to 80 percent.

But challenges remain.

• More than 40 million people, 70 percent of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, suffer from HIV/AIDS.
  
• Two out of three deaths among children and young adults in Africa and Southeast Asia are due to just six diseases – tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, measles, pneumonia, and diarrheal disease.
  
• More than 1.6 million children die each year from diseases that could be prevented by vaccines.
  
• More than 500,000 women die each year as a result of a lack of access to basic health care during pregnancy and childbirth.

Articles on Health Care:

Bid to Give AIDS Drugs to Poor Nations Lag
The Washington Post
by Alexander G. Higgins
March 28, 2006 

Dying for a Drink of Clean Water
The Washington Post
Op-Ed by Jan Eliasson and Susan Blumenthal
September 20

In Africa, AIDS programs target fathers
The Boston Globe
Article by Joe Donnelly
September 19

Success Stories:

• Turning on the Water Again in Tsunami-Affected Regions, Christian Children's Fund
  
• U.S.; India Join Hands to Fight AIDS Stigma in India, Project Concern International
  
• The Struggle Against AIDS in South Africa, Catholic Medical Mission Board
  
• US Legacy After Hurricane Mitch: Better Water; Sanitation and Gratitude, Action Against Hunger, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, CARE, Save the Children, and Plan International
  
• Malawian Farmers Unite To Find Power; Self-Sufficiency, ACDI/VOCA
  
• Rwandan Health Program Saves Lives; Builds Self-Sufficiency, International Rescue Committee
  
• Improving Child Health and Building Self-Sufficiency in Lithuania, Catholic Medical Mission Board
  
• Proven Partnership for the Prevention and Eradication of Illness, World Vision, USA for Unicef, the Carter Center, the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNDP, the Peace Corps, the World Bank and several governments
  
• International Partners Protect 16 Million African Babies From River Blindness, Helen Keller International
  
• Building Self Sufficiency in people with HIV/AIDS, Pathfinder International

World Leaders Speak Out...

President George Bush - Dec 1, 2003, World AIDS Day
"Fighting HIV/AIDS is not only a great challenge but also a moral imperative for those who believe in the value and dignity of every human life."
Read the proclamation

Senator Patrick Leahy - May 2, 2003
“ United States is spending less than 1 percent on programs to combat poverty, including global health. After all, we are the wealthiest nation on Earth. It is not only in our security interests, but also our moral responsibility, to do more.”

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