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| Wilson Works for Global Health Funding |
November 04, 2005 |
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| Bill Addresses Congresswoman’s Priorities for Fighting Tuberculosis
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today hailed House passage 358-39 of H.R. 3057, the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006, which increased funding by more than $18 million to improve treatment and combat Tuberculosis throughout the world.
“We are strengthening the commitment to providing basic treatment and fighting Tuberculosis and HIV in poor countries. There are an estimated 8 million new cases of Tuberculosis each year, and 2 million people die from the disease annually,” Wilson said. “Providing medicine to people who need it most is a worthy cause.”
Today’s approval of the conference report by the U.S. House of Representatives sends the legislation to the President to be signed into law.
Congresswoman Wilson, as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with Congressional responsibility of overseeing much of U.S. health policy, has been an outspoken advocate for increasing the American commitment to battling TB globally.
The bill contains nearly $151 million for Tuberculosis, an increase of $18.4 million over last year. Specified within that funding is $58.5 million for TB from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and another $80 million allocated for TB through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States.
On July 25, 2005, Wilson urged the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations to increase funding for TB efforts in this bill, and welcomes the increases in global health funding it contains.
In January, Reps. Wilson and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged the U.S. Agency for International Development to commit $10 million to the Global Tuberculosis Drug Facility in 2005. The Global Tuberculosis Drug Facility (GDF) provides low-cost tuberculosis drugs to poor countries around the world. The GDF encourages a regimen of drug treatment, thus safe-guarding against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and further reducing the disease worldwide. The United States provided $3.5 million for the GDF in 2005. In comparison, Canada provided more than $9 million for the GDF in 2005. Wilson urged a $10 million commitment to the GDF during the appropriations process last year, and the USAID has the authority to provide additional funding for the GDF within its budget.
About 50 countries now receive health assistance from the U.S., mostly in Africa and South Asia.
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