Tag Archives: Budget

Congress Approves $100 Million for NTD Funding!

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This spring, the END7 campaign launched an advocacy action to help to fight cuts to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Program. Thousands of supporters spoke out by sending a message to Chairwoman Kay Granger and Ranking Member Nita Lowey, of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, urging them to maintain NTD funding at $100 million.

We were very happy to hear that Congress approved $100 million for NTD funding in fiscal year (FY) 2015 and the President signed the budget this week! END7 is grateful for the thousands of supporters who took action. This is a huge success for the NTD community and the half a billion children who suffer from NTDs.

This victory underscores a growing bipartisan effort to prioritize global health and NTD spending within the U.S budget, and a growing awareness that treating NTDs is critical to ending extreme poverty. Every dollar spent on NTD treatment contributes to the success of other development efforts including maternal and child health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene. And it costs less than 50 cents to treat a child for all seven of the most common NTDs, making it one of the best buys in public health.

The $100 million allocated to USAID’s NTD Program will bolster global efforts to control and eliminate the seven most common NTDs by 2020. In the past eight years, the NTD Program has delivered more than one billion NTD treatments to people around the world. And thanks to renewed support from Congress, USAID will be able to reach even more people in 2015.

Prioritizing NTDs in Foreign Aid Spending

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This week, both the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs met to mark up their respective appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2015. The Global Network’s policy team has tracked the process closely to better understand the funding allocations Congress will likely recommend for the United States’ global health programs, and particularly for the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Program.

In January we celebrated the passage of the FY 2014 appropriations law, which quadrupled funding for USAID’s NTD Program since FY 2009. This funding increase demonstrates that Congress recognizes the value of the public/private partnership that makes USAID’s NTD Program a success.

However, in his budget request for FY 2015, President Obama recommended cutting NTD funding by more than 13 percent. Gratefully, Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Graham and the rest of the Senate Subcommittee approved a funding level of $100 million for USAID’s NTD Program yesterday, matching last year’s funding level and topping the President’s request by $13.5 million. And funding through the House for USAID’s global health programs was approved at $2.6 billion– $257 million above the President’s request, yet still below the FY 2014 enacted level.

As we move through the appropriations process, the Global Network and our partners in the global health community will continue to call for an increased commitment of resources to comprehensively address NTDs. We applaud the policymakers that appreciate the gravity of the global NTD burden and urge others in Congress to take action during this funding cycle in support of NTD programming. Working toward the control and elimination of these debilitating diseases is essential to achieving the United States’ broader economic and development goals.

Help Us Protect U.S. Funding for NTDs – a Cause Worth the Investment

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In January, we celebrated the largest increase in U.S. funding for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) since 2010.  Yet the party was cut short by the that President Obama’s FY15 budget request recommended cutting NTD funding by more than 13%, down to just $86.5 million. Considering the great strides the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) NTD Program has made in improving health around the world, cutting funding now would be a huge mistake.

Will you help protect U.S. funding for NTD programs? Send a letter now.

Investing in NTDs is a smart, cost-effective way to boost the health and economic prosperity of millions of people worldwide. Global health is a fraction of one percent of the federal $1.012 trillion budget – and the budget for NTDs is even smaller. But this tiny amount has a huge impact.

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InterAction, an alliance of nonprofits, emphasized this point in their annual Choose to Invest report – a publication which provides members of Congress with funding recommendations for U.S. foreign assistance programs based on experience from the field. Under the leadership of the Global Network and others in the NTD community, InterAction recommended that the U.S. program for NTDs be funded at $125 million in FY15.

Sahr Gando, a miner from Sierra Leone

Sahr Gando, a miner from Sierra Leone

An increase in funding for NTDs means effective programs, like this one in Sierra Leone, will continue to run. Last year, the USAID NTD Program, together with partners, assisted Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health in providing almost half a million people in the country, including Sahr Gando, with life-saving medicines. After receiving treatment, Sahr Gando was able to go back to work and support his family – a task which may have been impossible if treatment never arrived.

Together, we can ensure NTD programs like the one in Sierra Leone are protected – or even improved.

END7 recently launched a campaign to protect NTD funding. Click here to send a letter to Congresswomen Granger and Lowey—longtime advocates of NTDs and leaders of the House appropriations subcommittee that focuses on global health and foreign assistance funding―to thank them for their continued support for NTD programs and urge them to maintain or even increase funding for NTDs in FY15.

Thanks for taking a stand with us.

A Big Win for NTD Funding in the U.S. FY 2014 Budget

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Credit: Flickr user geetarchurchy

Credit: Flickr user geetarchurchy

After three years of indecisive budget wars, Congress has successfully passed a national budget for 2014. The one trillion-dollar-deal sailed through the House (359-67) and Senate (72-26) on January 15 and 16, and was quickly signed by President Obama the next day, raising hopes that compromise will replace gridlock in Washington in 2014.

What you may not know is that NTDs won big in the budget deal. Funding for USAID’s NTD Program was ramped up from $85.5 million ($89 million less 5 percent for sequestration) to $100 million, representing the greatest increase in U.S. NTD funding since FY 2010. Perhaps even more significant, funding for USAID’s NTD program increased despite a $4.3 billion cut to overall funding for U.S. foreign programs — demonstrating lawmakers’ on-going belief in the value and impact of NTD and global health programs. In fact, Chairman Hal Rogers of the House Appropriations Committee about the budget bill:

“In addition, the bill prioritizes global health, humanitarian, and democracy promotion programs—while reducing funding in other lower priority areas—to advance American interests around the globe and to fulfill the nation’s moral obligation to those in dire need.”

To date, USAID’s NTD Program has distributed more than 800 million treatments to nearly 250 million people across 25 countries, leveraging more than $6.7 billion worth of donated drugs, which represents one of the most successful public/private partnerships between government, non-profit and pharmaceutical partners. This new injection of funds will enable USAID to continue treatments in established program areas, monitor and evaluate national progress, reach new endemic populations and maximize drug donations that are currently available yet unable to be used.  Most importantly, this puts the global community one step closer towards reaching the London Declaration’s control and elimination goals.

So throw a party, grab some cake, and celebrate this great win for NTDs.

 

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