[india-drug] Update on Global Health Council's conference

["Dr. Leela McCullough" <leela@healthnet.org>]

Update on Global Health Council's conference
-----------------------------------------------
BUSH YANKS FUNDING FROM NONPROFIT



Wilder's Global Health Council Loses $360,000



By John P. Gregg

Valley News Staff Writer

The Bush administration yesterday said it is withdrawing more than 
$360,000 in funding for the Global Health Council's annual conference
in Washington, claiming the June forum would have mixed federal money
with lobbying activity.

But the last-minute decision also comes after conservatives complained 
that the ?Youth & Health, Generation on the Edge? conference is slanted

toward abortion rights and other reproductive health issues and also 
linked to MoveOn.org, which is seeking to oust President Bush from the 
White House.

Nils Daulaire, the president and chief executive officer of the 
Wilder-based council, said federal money was not going to be used
improperly during a planned ?advocacy day,? but was careful not to
criticize the White House.

?It's a very tricky and delicate situation. All I can say is that we 
have been through a very careful review of our activities,? Daulaire 
said. ?We do not use federal funds for any restricted activities.?

Daulaire also said MoveOn.org would not be a sponsor or participant in 
the final program.

?It's a technical and education conference, not a political advocacy 
conference,? Daulaire said.

The $1 million, four-day conference includes sessions that range from 
MTV's global HIV/AIDS campaign to substance abuse to ?strategies to 
prevent unsafe abortion and its consequences.? The Global Health
Council was to receive $170,000 from the Centers for Disease Control
and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The
nonprofit group also planned to direct about $190,000 from a five-year,
$5 million grant it receives from the U.S. Agency for International
Development toward the conference.

But both the Department of Health and Human Services and USAID said 
they were withdrawing the federal money for the conference because of 
concerns over the planned ?advocacy day,? which could send many of the 
2,000 anticipated conference participants to Capitol Hill, a relatively

common feature in Washington-based conventions.

?In working with them to devise a budget, they were unable to delineate

for us, breaking it out, how our money was going to be spent and not 
commingled with lobbying activity,? said Bill Pierce, an HHS spokesman.

And Jeff Grieco, a USAID spokesman, said the conference was moving from

technical information to ?now being a platform for expressing highly 
partisan political views.? Grieco noted that a reference to MoveOn.org 
had appeared on an earlier program.

Although speakers include Doortje Braeken, a senior advisor for 
International Planned Parenthood, which supports abortion rights, and
Thorya Ahmed Obaid, the executive director of the United Nation's
Population Fund, Daulaire said proponents of abstinence and a member of
the President's Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS are also participating
in the conference.

?There is great balance,? said Daulaire. 

?We've carried on this conference for 31 years. It really is the 
central meeting place for global health practitioners. It has never
been politicized and never will be. ? There are many things that the 
professional community has divergent views on, and we believe the best
way to deal with this is to have a free and open exchange.?

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a longtime ally of Daulaire's, is 
slated to present the 2004 Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human
Rights, named for a prominent AIDS global health pioneer, at the
conference. Leahy aides said the Bush administration appeared to be
catering to social conservatives.

?This was a manufactured issue, handled opportunistically by the White 
House to satisfy some in their political base,? said Leahy spokesman 
David Carle.

The Washington Times, a conservative paper, last Friday editorialized 
against the federal funding for the conference after 12 Republican 
members of Congress wrote a letter questioning the program, especially
the advocacy day.

But Tim Rieser, Leahy's top aide on the Senate Appropriations foreign 
operations subcommittee, said the conference was world-renowned.

?It is probably the biggest and most respected gathering of public 
health professionals in the world,? said Rieser, a former Norwich
resident. 

?This conference is remarkable for its diversity, for the caliber of 
people who attend, and for the quality of discourse. All points of view

are expressed.?

Rieser said the conference also raises such topics as AIDS, family 
planning, the use of condoms, and other reproductive health issues.

?These are not easy issues to talk about, but they are absolutely 
critical to effective public health. To the Global Health Council's
credit, they confront these issues. They talk about them,? he said.

Daulaire said ?of course I'm disappointed? to have lost the federal 
funding, but said the conference ?will go on.? 

He said he hoped to embark on some ?quick fund raising? to muster about

$100,000 to pay for airfare and other expenses for about 50 public 
health professionals from lesser-developed countries who were going to 
present papers at the conference.

Daulaire, who had written an opinion piece in January questioning the 
depth of Bush's commitment to fighting AIDS around the world, also was 
headed to Capitol Hill yesterday afternoon to give a bipartisan
briefing on malaria in Africa.

?We're not going to get pigeonholed by this issue,? Daulaire said of 
the conference contretemps. 

?We want to make sure we can continue to work on our agenda.?

Last fall the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave the Global Health 
Council a five-year, $10 million grant to build American support for 
public health programs around the world. 

At the conference, Bill Gates Sr., the father of the Microsoft founder,

is to present the annual Gates Award for Global Health, which includes 
a $1 million prize.


__________________________________________________


Leela McCullough, Ed.D.
Director of Information Services

SATELLIFE
30 California Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA
Tel: +617-926-9400    Fax: +617-926-1212
Email: leela@usa.healthnet.org
Web: http://www.healthnet.org



________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/

Access Essential Drugs Monitor #32 at http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml

The INDIA-DRUG discussion group is a partnership between SATELLIFE
(www.healthnet.org), WHO Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
(www.who.ch), and the Delhi Society for the Promotion of the
Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) in India.

To send a message to india-drug, write to: india-drug@healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe india-drug OR unsubscribe india-drug
To contact a person, send a message to: india-drug-help@healthnet.org