Voting for Better (Global) Health

As the U.S. presidential primaries come down to the wire - with Obama and Clinton in a dead heat for the Democratic nomination and Huckabee still doggedly pursuing McCain in the Republican race - both foreign policy and domestic healthcare have been at the top of the campaign agenda. Global health lies squarely at the intersection of these hot topics, and as such has received an unprecedented amount of attention from both sides of the aisle (not to mention from the incumbent President, who is currently promoting his health and development successes in Africa). But for the development-minded voter, who's the best pick? To help answer this pressing question, the Kaiser Family Foundation is putting the spotlight on each candidate's statements and positions on global health and HIV/AIDS issues over at health08.org (albeit a tad too late for the Beltway voters). Not surprisingly, for example, there is across the board support for the yet-to-be-renamed PEPFAR. For a CGD view on this and other U.S. initiatives, check out Global Health TV, where my colleague Nandini Oomman recently explained why global HIV/AIDS is an important issue in the Presidential campaign, what different candidates are committing to on this issue, and how she thinks the next President can increase the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS funding. Consider this a teaser - these ideas and more will be discussed at greater length in our forthcoming book The White House and the World.