How COVID-19 Must Transform US Global Health Strategy

The challenge COVID-19 has posed to nations around the world has brought to light the necessity of outbreak preparedness — not just for grappling with the newest health crisis, but for all global threats, including AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and more.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is raging in the U.S., Africa faces the prospect of imminent catastrophe, where at least 300,000 Africans could die from the disease and 29 million people may be pushed into extreme poverty. Viruses do not respect borders, and we know that America will not be safe if COVID-19 is out of control on other continents. It is vital that, as the world grapples with today’s threat and begins to craft policies to protect all of us in the future, we are simultaneously working to transition from emergency response mode to sustainable pandemic preparedness — not just for our own country, but for the whole world.

In response to COVID-19, America has rightly made enormous investments in our economy. If just a small fraction of this funding is invested in helping countries less fortunate than our own it will make America safer and change the prospects for other nations for decades to come.

Read the full article in The Hill by Friends of the Global Fight contributor, Chris Collins.