3.1: Health
Improve global health, including child, maternal, and reproductive health; reduce disease, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis,
and polio; and increase access to improved drinking water and sanitation services.
Other Information:
Our objectives in this area are to: improve global health, including child, maternal, and reproductive health; reduce disease,
especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and polio; and increase access to improved drinking water and sanitation services.
Our diplomatic and assistance efforts in health also reduce risks of infectious diseases migrating to the United States. HIV/AIDS
poses a unique threat to health and development, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) provides significant
funding for a wide range of prevention, care, and treatment activities to countries experiencing the most serious effects
of HIV/AIDS. The President has launched major U.S. initiatives to: reduce the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS; control
malaria and reduce related mortality; limit the spread of avian influenza and prevent a human influenza pandemic; and, in
the event of a pandemic, provide appropriate medical and humanitarian response. A key U.S. foreign policy objective and one
of our highest international public health priorities is the complete eradication of polio. The United States also engages
diplomatically to build partnerships and provide direct foreign assistance in global efforts to: fight other infectious diseases;
improve disease surveillance and environmental health; and develop new vaccines. The HIV/AIDS pandemic and the threat of pandemic
influenza require immediate, coordinated, and sustained intervention among agencies, host governments, and international partners,
combining diplomatic efforts to bring parties together with direct foreign assistance. HIV/AIDS programs coordinate with other
agencies and partners that have core competencies in areas such as food assistance, education, microfinance, and family planning
to ensure comprehensive programs that advance overall well-being. Critical disease hazards in developing nations include tuberculosis,
malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. Many children and mothers die each year from treatable causes, so a special focus is needed
for these groups. Malaria causes over one million deaths a year, and children are the vast majority of the victims. The President’s
Malaria Initiative (PMI) provides both coordinated development programs and strong diplomatic efforts to promote sustained
political commitments to counter malaria by host countries. Nearly half of women who express a need for family planning are
not using a modern method. In some countries, women have nearly two abortions for every birth. Where family planning is not
used effectively, women have children closer together, leading to especially low child survival rates and poor maternal health.
Programs in family planning and reproductive health will: expand access to high-quality, voluntary, family planning services
and information; expand access to reproductive health care to reduce unintended pregnancy; promote healthy reproductive behaviors
of men and women; reduce abortion; and reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity. Programs for maternal and child
health will increase the availability and use of proven interventions addressing the major killers of mothers and children,
and improve their health and nutrition status. These programs include: effective maternity care and management of obstetric
complications; prevention services such as newborn care, routine immunization, polio eradication, and micronutrients; improved
maternal, infant, and young child feeding; and treatment of life-threatening childhood illnesses. The failure or absence of
functioning health infrastructure and services in large parts of the world presents a range of challenges to U.S. interests
and to human life and welfare. U.S. investments in health strengthen local capacity in disease outbreak detection and response;
strengthen delivery of health services, essential drugs, and commodities; ensure adoption of best practices by field programs;
provide technical oversight; and support health technology advances. The human health consequences of unsafe water and poor
hygiene are severe. Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people suffering from illnesses related to water. Diarrhea
linked to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene accounts for nearly two million deaths among young children in developing
countries each year. The U.S. Government engages donors and developing countries to ensure a focused commitment to expand
access to, and effective use of, reliable and economically sustainable safe drinking water and sanitation services to improve
human health. The U.S. Government also works to improve water resources management and increase water productivity, and to
improve water security by strengthening cooperation on shared waters. Some activities that support these goals are: strengthening
water sector governance by local, national, and regional institutions; mobilizing domestic resources; promoting large and
small scale infrastructure investment; advancing improved hygiene activities for public health protection; encouraging science
and technology cooperation to advance knowledge in areas related to water management; and promoting prevention, preparedness,
and mitigation measures in response to disasters.
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