- Why Does Voting Matter in Considering -

Global Health?

By Bryanna Chau

As the election date draws nearer, it’s important to understand the full scope of how important your vote is. Not only does it directly affect our country, but it also creates a domino effect on a global scale as well – this being global health. It’s no hidden fact that politics play an essential role in international aid reliefs. Political power has been used since the beginning of global health and has continued its reign over international aid relief efforts since the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency to the Trump administration.

Take into account the smallpox eradication program (SEP) established in 1966. U.S. participation in the international programs was only developed based on political reasons and was largely funded on the basis of leading politicians’ approval. For example, Lyndon B. Johnson approved and supported the SEP efforts only due to the perceived political advances in West African countries that were seen as a cold-war battleground, and a way to keep countries recently independentized from falling under communist leadership. The same could be said for the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) leadership in the program. WHA contributed to the overseer of the SEP and funding due to the delegates wanting to further encourage the Soviet Union to remain a part of their organization and their continued cooperation on current and future international projects.

Similarly, in the family-planning programs which were established to develop high-quality reproductive, sexual, and preventative health care services, Lyndon B. Johnson approved the funding of the program only because of its prospective benefits to the country’s GDP. He was informed by economist Stephen Enke of the proposed increase in GDP following control of the population, despite his personal views on women’s equality.

Within the Trump administration, power over international aid still remains. The infamous Mexico-City policy, also known as the global gag rule, “requires foreign NGOs to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning using funds with any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition for receiving U.S. global family planning assistance and, as of Jan. 23, 2017, most other U.S. global health assistance” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020). It was first established within the Reagan administration, and since its creation has been dismissed and reenacted following each presidency’s respective political party – enacted in Republican presidencies, dismissed in Democratic presidencies. The Trump administration has since reenacted the policy and has added additional guidelines that hinder international family-planning funding in all sections. Any international family-planning program that offers abortion services will no longer receive U.S. funding for any and all of their health services, which includes treatment and education of HIV/AIDS, STI testing, cervical and breast cancers education and screening, pap smears, and birth control.

Although it can greatly benefit programs, as shown with the SEP, it holds too much power, especially in the hands of a presidency – as Lyndon B. Johnson displayed. With the same signature to approve of global health initiatives, it could also prove to be detrimental in their relative success. As unfortunate as it is, politics has a large sway on funding and support from the public on global health matters which is why it is so vital as a qualified voter to understand the full aspect that your vote can do. It is important to research all candidates’ platforms to better understand what each represents and believes in because if they get elected, their policies will reflect that.

References

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2020, June 29). The Mexico City Policy: An Explainer. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/mexico-city-policy-explainer/

Recommended Readings

- News outlets (listen to both republican and democratic channels since they tend to be biased; CNN & FOX)

- https://www.usa.gov/voter-research

- https://www.factcheck.org (Reviews the accuracy of political ads and campaigns)

- https://www.lwv.org/elections/vote411 (Nonpartisan informational website created by the League of Women Voters)

- https://dos.myflorida.com/media/703424/2020-voterregvotingguide-final-eng-20200817.pdf (Florida Voter Guide for 2020)

- “A History of Global Health” by Randall M. Packard