HHS Secretary Speaks During McAuley Lecture

By better branding publicly funded global health efforts as a “gift from Americans,” the United States will forward its health diplomacy worldwide, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt told a Georgetown audience October 17.

Leavitt said many health projects by nongovernmental organizations receive government aid, but the organizations, not the public, get all of the credit for work done. As a result, not enough recognition is given to how many projects the United States funds, the secretary said.

“When patients are handed their antiretroviral medication, in my opinion, it ought to come in a bag that says ‘from the American people,’” Leavitt said. “When a community health worker we train goes house to house in countries all over the world, he could carry a bag that says ‘from the American people.’”

Leavitt came to Georgetown for the School of Nursing and Health Studies’ annual McAuley Lecture. He spoke on what he believes should be the goals for the next president.

“Critical health challenges resonate around the globe,” said NHS Dean Bette Jacobs, pointing to HIV/AIDS, diabetes and health care workforce needs. “At our school and this university, we have a stake in helping to address these critical challenges.”

The main effort, according to Leavitt, should be unifying nonprofits, health workers, corporations, faith-based groups, researchers and others who work on global health projects under one branded group.

The next president “should tie a colorful ribbon around the group and show it to the world as the collective generosity and compassion of the American people,” Leavitt said. “The president ought to issue a call to express our national compassion as a choir, not as a collection of soloists.”

Instead of promoting individual efforts, this will create stronger health diplomacy, win the trust of local populations and ultimately benefit American foreign policy aims, he added.

Not unifying health diplomacy or making it a focal point of American foreign policy would be a massive missed opportunity, Leavitt added, and one on which foes would capitalize.

“The enemies of democracy have long understood the power of health. Fidel Castro has very little hard power, but he is the master of how to use health to develop soft power,” Leavitt said.

Cuba has built massive medical schools and sends its doctors around the globe, raising the country’s profile and endearing other nations to Cuba, Leavitt explained.

Other “enemies of democracy” attempting to undercut governments, such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, also use health care to further their aims, the secretary said.

“They find women in clinics, burn the clinics and kidnap the health practitioner. Why? Because (clinics) bring credit to the government and their goal is to use health as a means of destroying credibility,” Leavitt said.

The United States is trying to counter such efforts by working more closely with foreign governments, especially new democracies. Leavitt announced a new approach that will bring Iraqi doctors for short-term visits to America. An effort that would connect them with international colleagues and enhance their skills within their specialties. The doctors’ work and education have been disrupted by the ongoing war, but more want to return to practicing medicine in Iraq.

“We can use health diplomacy both to be benevolent and to our benefit,” Leavitt said.