The Global Health Initiative’s integration into the U.S. Department of State garnered mixed reactions from the development community. But what does the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, where GHI was initially planned to be housed, have to say about the move?
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah shared his thoughts in an interview with the Global Post on the sidelines of the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. Here’s an excerpt of Shah’s views on closing GHI to put up the new Office of Global Health Diplomacy within the State Department:
“Just because we don’t have a Global Health Initiative coordinator at the State Department anymore doesn’t mean we don’t have a Global Health Initiative. We believe this structural approach will be more effective in delivering the kind of integration across services that we think is at the crux of getting health outcomes for the same resources, which is what GHI is about. It is true: We had a structure, we didn’t think it was the right structure to deal with the challenges going forward. We made changes to that, but we are absolutely committed to the GHI, to the goals we’ve established and to the concept of integrating service delivery to drive better results.”
More of Shah’s answers, as well as his views on the “turning point” in the AIDS fight, here.
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