House Foreign Affairs Committee To Consider Global Health Measures
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday will consider two measures aimed at improving global health, CQ Today reports. One measure (HR 1302), sponsored by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), would require the president to establish a foreign aid policy that incorporates all agencies administering such aid. The measure would use the U.N. Millennium Development Goals -- which include reducing the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and eradicating poverty and hunger -- as a guideline to meet its targets. In addition, the measure would require that the State Department provide Congress with annual progress reports, according to CQ Today.
Another measure (HR 1567), sponsored by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), would provide $330 million in fiscal year 2008 and $450 million in FY 2009 for the Global Plan to Stop TB, which was developed by the Stop TB Partnership and the World Health Organization. The measure also would allocate $70 million in FY 2008 and $100 million in FY 2009 to CDC for tuberculosis control efforts. In addition, the measure would direct $15 million annually to the Global Drug Facility, which has provided access to TB drugs to 10 million people since 2001, according to CQ Today (Graham-Silverman, CQ Today, 7/30).