Globalizing the Crisis Response

After reading article after article about the financial crisis for the past several weeks, I find myself immersed in hopeful frustration.  I am hopeful that a global and united response to this crisis will indeed prove - in an unprecedented and historic way - just how CAPABLE all nations are of working together, coordinating action, cooperating on plans, and following through.  However I am frustrated that in the face of numerous crises of the past and present, this galvanization and strong political will has been pathetically lacking.  I think, of course, most immediately of the AIDS crisis. 

The title of this post is the headline of the Washington Post article assigned this week.  To demonstrate my point that ending AIDS is completely possible WITH political will, I will cite for you key statements in this article, replacing the word "finance" (and all variants) with the word "AIDS" or "health" (and other terms where appropriate).  As you read, translate "US Rescue Plan" as "PEPFAR" (a tiny fraction of the $700 billion bail-out, failing to include a national response to AIDS, and coming 25 years too late, but indeed a galvanizing force for the international community).  Imagine a world in which this language made the papers:

"The AIDS crisis has gone global.  CD4 counts have fallen and access to health services is seizing up around the world.  In recent days, as most Americans focused on the political drama of the rescue package, a number of African hospitals have failed...

Globalization of the crisis requires a globalized response.  While the consequences of the AIDS crisis are clearly international, the regulation of healthcare remains almost wholly national... 

Yet an internationally coordinated strategy, ranging far beyond the heroic efforts of the world's leading central health centers, is essential now that the US rescue plan is in place.  When health ministers convene in Washington this week for the annual World Health Organization meeting, they should adopt several initial components of such a strategy.  Not doing so would be almost as serious as if Congress had adjourned without passing the rescue legislation.

First, heading off a precipitous decline in global public health requires a global stimulus program.  Different governments can use different policy tools....

Second, coordination of parallel national efforts to recapitalize tottering health systems would pack a powerful psychological punch.  The US, EU, and some other are moving rapidly to shore up their health institutions....Widespread international participation in the effort to provide lifesaving AIDS medications could be of substantial help...

Third, as the US and some Europeans are already doing, many countries will need to expand coverage of their health insurance programs to discourage hospital shutdowns. Parallel or uniform policy steps through which unlimited insurance is provided for at least a temporary period...will be mutually reinforcing and help prevent panic.

Beyond the short term, countries will need to develop a cooperative framework to prevent and resolve such crises...There is an inherent tension as health becomes global but its regulation remains national....

Our policy responses must reflect the interdependent vulnerability of global health....it is too late to assign blame over responsibility for the crisis, within or among countries.  The traditional Group of Seven industrial countries have mounted coordinated public health programs of this type in the past, with considerable success; now they must be joined by the chief emerging markets, particularly China. The G-7 finance ministers should fully include the five or six main emerging markets in their upcoming meeting and seek to forge a global strategy. This week's WHO conclave offers a unique opportunity to add a critical international dimension to the crisis response."

What logic!  What clarity of thought!  What well-thought-out strategy! 

What frustrates me is that so many already employ this logic, clarity, and strategy (To start exploring some of the best work, check out the Center for Global Development's HIV/AIDS Monitor).  World leaders have failed to appreciate and take on the recommenndations of these analysts, and therefore those responding most urgently to the AIDS crisis, predominantly civil society and NGOs, are forced to work in an uncoordinated global health system and do the best they can in the small communities worldwide in which they work.  They are not working at their full potential in the absence of a global strategy and our response to AIDS is forcibly less productive than it is capable of being.

This article I have constructed could very truthfully be published, but it is not.  None of these ideas about addressing AIDS on a global level are new -- they are just not given op-ed space or media coverage.  We know how to resolve this crisis, that's not the problem.  A core problem is a lack of cooperation and coordination that can only be galvanized by strong political will.

I invite you to pick up a newspaper and try this exercise for yourself.  Replace the crisis and you will see that our world leadership is capable of coming together to take immediate and united action.  The difference to me is not that our leaders don't want to end AIDS, it's that there are no "jittery investors" who are pushing them to do so.  We are all affected by the health of global populations and like issues of climate change or education or human rights, we will not see the negative effects of failures to invest until the long run, and we therefore don't identify ourselves as investors now.  Which means politicians have no pressure to move in the direction of solving the foreign crises that already surround us.  If we want an end to AIDS that's up to us as investors in global public health, citizens who want to live in a healthy world.  It's totally possible to achieve, but the choice is ours!

Comments

[Joyce Gaylor]

Kate,

You dont even know how much of a role model you are to so many pe9ple out there. I will say it loud and proud, "I look up to you everyday"

Everything that you just stated is SO true, and it breaks my heart that this issue doesn't get as much light as it should. Everyone KNOWS that AIDS is a pandemic and that it is a HUGE problem, but they all have the same common reaction most of the time...."Well its not here in OUR home" or "Well someone else will help, why us" Everytime I hear a EXCUSE why not to help it fuels so much ANGER inside of me and I take that Fuel to drive m to work harder......because I know, we know that WE CAN put an END to this AIDS pandemic, and we will!

Thanks for sharing!

Joyce'

[Jennifer Mejia]

Kate,

Nice job with this blog post/argument. You are so RIGHT. Like Joyce said, you are a role model to many people including myself! =0) It is sad to say that what Joyce said in your comment is also true. When I talked to my sister about KCA and me wanting to go to Africa to do volunteer work for a month she questioned me with no doubt. She asked me why I wanted to go to Africa instead of helping "my own people" first. I was left in amazement at such statement coming from her. Nonetheless when I explained my reasons she said that they receive enough help from celebrities and what not. Again another statement that shocked me. It is clear that whatever help (whether big or small) that is being provided to the AIDS pandemic is not enough or else the pandemic would not exist! People don't look at it this way, at least not yet. It is all about timing and I think that the time is not right for such of a huge light to be shined on this issue from one day to another. But little by little we are shining light on it and eventually the time will be right when EVERYONE knows and wants to help! People must first learn to care for humanity and unfortunately we live in a society that doesn't.

[Louise O'Shea]

Kate, it is so refreshing to have someone voice their opinion on this global health issue especially when the news is consumed with so many other stories.

You always tell us to be the celebrity on campus and be known for KCA and our work - you're the celebrity for KCA College right now. Beautifully written article Kate!

[Joyce Gaylor]

This quote made me think about this post, so I thought I would share it with you.

"It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time."
-- Winston Churchill

I thought about how we are the first link of ending this pandemic, so lets not give up....Destiny is coming!

[Keren Raz]

Thought-provoking Kate! Really well done. I never considered replicating the world's response to the banking failure to other issues. Thanks!