Ever since the President announced his global health funding goals, polite turf battles have erupted between those in the AIDS funding camp and everyone else, so this LIVE webcast on Thursday might be interesting (details at the end of the post).  There are some applauding this fundingand some who are not. For example just last week the managing director of the Global Network for NTD (thanks to Clarissa for this quote), stated:

Good Obama – “We applaud the President’s decision to include funding for neglected tropical diseases in his
Global Health Budget.  The return on investment for the American people will be enormous.  Cost-effective investment in life-saving medicine for the world’s most vulnerable populations will not only improve health but strengthen our
relationships with countries in strategic parts of the globe.”

And for the Bad Obama argument see this post on the PHR Blog. Finally, for another perspective read this evaluation on the Easterly Aid Watch blog: World Bank AIDS initiatives crowd out health programs.

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U.S. Global Health Policy: In Focus
On Thursday, May 14 at 1 p.m. ET, the Kaiser Family Foundation will hold a live, interactive webcast from
its Washington, DC studio featuring an expert panel examining the global health aspects of the President’s
recently released Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposal. The panel will discuss what has been allocated to support global health efforts abroad, including programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). The panel will also address other issues relating to the U.S. funding for global health programs and what the next steps are for the budget with Congress. Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Jen Kates, will moderate the discussion and the panelists will take questions from viewers, which can be submitted ahead of time or during the live program to infocus@kff.org.