Tag Archives: Sally Cowal

March 1, 2013

5 Potential Impacts of Sequestration on International Global Health NGOs

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , ,

Today is the deadline after which automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to US government agencies known as sequestration take effect. Unless there is a last minute deal between the leadership in the US Congress and President Obama, some automatic US Government funding cuts will come into force today.

Sequestration would reduce total funding by $85 billion until September 30, 2013, the end of the fiscal year (FY13). By percentage, this would affect non-defense discretionary funding by about 5%, affecting the International Affairs or “Function 150” account which funds USAID, CDC and other key US agencies. Defense discretionary funding would be reduced by about 8%.

Though difficult to estimate in an uncertain funding environment, these sequestration cuts could have drastic and lasting effects on global health efforts. In the House Appropriations Committee Democrats’ “Report on Sequestration”, estimated global health cuts could:

January 30, 2013

Congress’ Global Health Agenda for 2013

Categories: Global Health Beat
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

US Congress

Sally Cowal, Senior Vice President & Chief Liaison Officer, PSI

As we celebrate last week’s inauguration and the 113th Congress’ first few weeks in session, I naturally reflect on the last couple of years. The 112th Congress was full of intense debates, a consuming election and suitably ended with a dramatic, last-minute deal on the fiscal cliff. Thankfully, global health retained strong bipartisan support during even the gravest times of political and economic uncertainty. Looking forward, PSI is encouraged by this new Congress’ potential support of global health programs.

The 113th Congress has an incredible opportunity to expand the global health progress of its predecessors. Each congressional member is in a uniquely powerful position to shape the health, and, ultimately, the future of millions of people globally. With Washington increasingly under attack, the 113th has a chance to show the American people how U.S. foreign assistance saves lives with efficient, transparent and cost-effective solutions.

April 27, 2011

What WHO’s Report on Noncommunicable Diseases Means for the Global Health Community

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , ,

This post is by Senior Vice President and Chief Liaison Officer Sally Cowal. It's official. WHO has just issued its first Global Status Report on Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and it reveals that they are the leading killer of people in the world today and are on the increase. In 2008, 36.1 million people died from NCDs and they are on the increase. 80% of the deaths occurred in low and middle-income countries, where PSI works. We've been expecting this report for some time, launched at a Global Forum in Moscow, but seeing it in black and white increases the urgency we feel to find what PSI's role should be in addressing this new and global challenge. We're a leading global health organization dedicated to improving the lives of those in need, and it appears that they are in need of information, prevention, treatment and care for heart disease, strokes, chronic lung diseases, cancers and diabetes. We've begun to take a look at our capabilities in areas such as behavior change communications, health care franchising, product distribution through pharmacies and grocery stores, but also through shanty-town kiosks and community health workers to see if and how these can be harnessed and re-directed to serve ... Read more

April 15, 2011

PSI Testifies on the Hill about International Family Planning and Health Programs

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , ,

  Yesterday, PSI Chief Liaison Officer Sally Cowal delivered testimony in front of the U.S. House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Committee on Appropriations).  Out of the 24 witnesses called, she was the only person to address the issue of family planning and reproductive health programs.  Here's that relevant portion of her testimony. Sally's full remarks are below the fold. Finally, for international family planning and reproductive health programs, the President requested $626 million for FY12. The estimated U.S. fair share to address unmet need globally is $1 billion yearly. By fulfilling the unmet need for modern family planning methods (an estimated 215 million women who want to avoid a pregnancy are not using an effective method of contraception), the United States and other donors could achieve a net total savings, because fewer unintended pregnancies mean lower costs for maternal and newborn health services. Additionally, PSI urges Congress not to reimpose the Mexico City Policy. Its effect is to reduce women’s access to contraception, thereby increasing the chance that they will seek abortions for unintended pregnancies. Investments in family planning reduce the number of abortions in the world, and address the appalling fact that the most dangerous condition for women in ... Read more

April 5, 2011

Women and Safe Water: The Ripple Effect

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , ,

This post by Senior Vice President and Chief Liaison Officer Sally Cowal originally appeared on Smart Global Health for the Center for Stategic and International studies. Women in most of the developing world have the primary responsibility for managing their household’s water supply. Unfortunately, that is not always their choice. Too often, where water is scarce, women are the ones forced to fetch it -- often traveling long distances on foot, sometimes two or three times a day. As the primary person responsible for her family’s water supply, a woman gains influence over her family and community. She becomes responsible not only for her family’s water, but also for their health. Research shows that including women in public health projects designed to improve water and sanitation significantly and positively impacts the projects’ long term results. Thus, women in the developing world are the key to resolving global water and sanitation health challenges. Take Adama Yakuba in Nigeria, for example. She, like the other women in her rural village, would fetch water for her family from a nearby stream. Her kids often became ill after drinking it, so she knew the water wasn’t clean or safe. But, she didn’t know what to do about ... Read more

March 22, 2011

PSI Commemorates World Water Day

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

We have made great strides in improving access to safe water and improved sanitation around the globe and are on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. Much work remains to be done, however, and many countries are still woefully off target. Today diarrheal disease is the second leading killer of children under five. Safe water and sanitation programs are a cornerstone to development and affect children's health, school attendance, local economic development and more. PSI recognizes this and currently has programs to improve access to safe drinking water in more than thirty countries around the world. PSI markets and distributes three household water treatment products, providing health communications addressing key barriers to the treatment and storage of drinking water. PSI programs also distribute diarrhea treatment kits in twelve countries, combining oral rehydration salts and zinc to effectively decrease the incidence, severity and recurrence of diarrheal disease. At a community training in Burundi, mothers follow instructions on how to treat their water with dilute chlorine solution. I recently heard a powerful story about a young woman in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though she lives in constant dread of violence ... Read more

March 16, 2011

Should PSI Get Involved in Non-Communucable Diseases? Part 2 of a Series

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Ed note. This is part two of a two part series by PSI Chief Liaison Officer Sally Cowal who asks whether or not PSI should begin programs targeting non-communicable diseases? Read part one. Publications are pouring in and the World Health Organization, CSIS, the Council on Foreign Relations and others are hosting lectures, round-table discussions and workshops on the how non-communicable diseases might transform the global health landscape. At a lecture at CSIS earlier this month, Dr. Harvey Fineberg Chair, of the US Institute of Medicine and former provost at Harvard made the case for increased attention to NCDs. Dr. Fineberg said that NCDs are emerging, under-appreciated, and crying out for action. 80% of the deaths caused by NCDs are in low and middle income countries and low and middle income countries are less well able than the developed world to deal with them. Because NCDs are chronic, they go on for years and are expensive to treat and costly to the economies and well-being of countries. Dr. Fineberg said that while treatment and prevention are both important and have a place, prevention when it works produces better results, saves personal and societal grief and is less costly. He urged the audience to believe that ... Read more

March 14, 2011

Should PSI Get Involved In Non-Communicable Diseases?

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , ,

Ed note. This is the first post in a series by PSI Chief Liaison Officer Sally Cowal who asks whether or not PSI should begin programs targeting non-communicable diseases? PSI celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2010. A global organization, now responsible for reducing the global burden of disease by 2.67%, has an opportunity to do even more. There is evidence that non-communicable disease (NCD) is transforming the health landscape in low and middle income countries. A high level United Nations Meeting on Non-communicable diseases (equivalent to the HIV/AIDS Summit in 2000) is scheduled for September 2011. What role could PSI, with its experience in prevention, in behavior change, and its presence in 65 low and middle income countries, play?  Should it look at hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, psychiatric illness, neurological disorders and strokes? Where will the resources come from? Government health budgets across the globe are stretched thin, and Bill Gates already told my colleague Kate Roberts that his priorities remain, polio, HIV, and other communicable diseases and that PSI shouldn’t lose its focus on these strategic priorities.  What are the risks? Can we count the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) --a way to measure the effectiveness of health interventions)? We are still ... Read more

July 26, 2010

Impressions from the Vienna Conference – Sally Cowal

Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Unlike the famous “Tales from the Vienna Woods”, I want to reflect a little on the just completed Vienna AIDS Conference which we'll call “Tales from the Vienna Steam Bath”. First of all, a steam bath because it has been above 35 degrees centigrade here every day since we arrived, and secondly, because AIDS Conferences are by their nature, places where people come to let off steam—to argue with governments, the Global Fund, the pharmaceutical companies, the UN and each other about how AIDS prevention, treatment, cure ought to be better, faster, cheaper and more equitable. From my corner of the world it has been the best AIDS Conference since Vancouver in 1996. Beginning in 1996, when Dr. David Ho presented his exciting new findings on the ability of anti retroviral drugs to prolong the life of HIV positive persons and, indeed, to prevent the progression from HIV infection to full-blown AIDS, the emphasis has been on treatment—almost to the exclusion of other topics. This year the pendulum swung back in the direction of prevention, while also focusing on how to make treatment regimens simpler. Treatment 2.0 it's called and it advocates for a radically simplified treatment platform that's good for ... Read more