The U.S. global health policy should focus on top biosecurity threats, help countries learn how to manage and fund their own health needs, and take advantage of technology, with some help from Congress if needed. That’s according to William “Bill” Steiger, former U.S. Agency for International Development chief of staff in the first Trump administration and global health consultant at the George W. Bush Institute.
“The most important innovation that is in the ‘America First Global Health Strategy’ is asking other countries, other governments, and their partners to do their share,” he said at a U.S. Global Leadership Coalition event Thursday in Washington, D.C. “The criticism of the administration is correct that we have allowed some of our partners to free ride off of our investments for far too long, and it is time for them to step up. But they need help.”
Governments need to understand how to budget and appropriate funds for global health, and technical assistance is needed, he said, including to help governments understand how to raise revenue to pay for some of what the U.S. has funded in the past.