In an editorial in the Washington Post today, the editors identify a key area of failing of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief: prevention. While PEPFAR is responsible for a major scale-up of treatment, prevention efforts have not been successful because of unnecessary, politially-motivated restrictions such as abstinence-only programs and the siloing of global health programs to treat each health problem as a seperate and distinct problem

Thank god then, that President Obama called on Congress today to fund all global health programs in a broader, more comprehensive plan to tackle the complex and intersecting global health issues, such as TB, family planning and HIV, saying:

We cannot simply confront individual preventable illnesses in isolation. The world is interconnected, and that demands and integrated approach to global health

The actual funding levels of $63 billion over six years are controversial however, $63 billion breaks down to 51 billion for AIDS, TB and Malaria, and $12 billion for other global health. This angers many AIDS activists because it means that for PEPFAR there is 51 billion over 6 years instead of 48 billion over 5. This also is being seen as many as not enough. But many are praising Obama for shifting the US approach to a more comprehensive one.

I am among those that see reasons to be optimistic. Coming from the family planning community, I know how hard it is to let go of the desire to fight for funding for you specific issue and to keep fighting for more and more money. And while I would love more funding for global health and reproductive health in particular, shifting towards a comprehensive approach will ensure that we actually make the difference we are trying to.