Opinion: For better or worse, politics define 2016 top global health moments

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The world had a pretty good idea what foreign aid would look like under a Hillary Clinton administration, but what President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda will be is anyone’s guess. As the U.S. shifted to the right, its northern neighbor Canada shifted to the left and European governments struggled with economic turmoil and an unprecedented refugee crisis taxing aid budgets.

But 2016 had a few bright spots, including a record replenishment for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and two innovative efforts that may very well redefine what it means to be a philanthropist. Here are six top global health moments:

1. America votes, girls and women are set back.

Trump hasn’t spoken much about foreign aid, and his policy agenda is unclear at best. He has said he intends to fight funding for Planned Parenthood and will very likely appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade — the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions, including the decision to have an abortion.

Source: Devex (link opens in a new window)

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