Global Health

IDSA prioritizes promoting sufficient US investment in global infectious diseases responses and research, and in using the voices of physician scientists to inform multilateral and national global health policies. IDSA is a trusted leader in shaping and advancing international and national policies and investments in global HIV, TB, health security and antimicrobial resistance.

IDSA Comments on United Nations HLMs Stakeholders Meeting

IDSA offered these recommendations to United Nations member states developing political declarations on tuberculosis and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, ahead of scheduled UN High Level Meetings on these issues in September, 2023.

IDSA Comments on Development of Pandemic Accord

IDSA staff delivered comments at a listening session held by the Health and Human Services Administration’s Office of Global Affairs to inform their participation in the World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to develop a draft pandemic accord. The INB has been tasked with negotiating a convention, agreement or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response globally. IDSA’s comments focused on better addressing AMR within pandemic preparedness and stressed the importance of continuing essential health services for existing pandemics during outbreaks.

IDSA HIVMA Letter to President Biden on Global Vaccine Equity

In this letter IDSA and HIVMA leadership urged President Biden to accelerate U.S. leadership in achieving global COVID-19 vaccine equity to control the pandemic globally while protecting the hard-won gains made against the pandemic in the U.S. This includes donating markedly increased doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries and greater investments in vaccine administration and distribution infrastructure.

Petition Letter for Nomination of Global Aids Coordinator

IDSA and HIVMA spearheaded this letter signed by over 50 organizations urging President Biden to nominate a Global AIDS Coordinator and renew U.S. leadership in controlling the HIV epidemic globally.

IDSA Testimony to House Appropriations Committee

IDSA submitted written testimony to the House Appropriations Committee urging increased funding for vital global infectious disease programs under the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Relief for fiscal year 2022, including increased resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on other infectious diseases including HIV and TB.

IDSA Statements for Health and Human Services Listening Session

IDSA presented statements on the global COVID-19 response, immunizations and antimicrobial resistance at a listening session hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Global Affairs, ahead of the 74^th World Health Assembly.

IDSA Letter to Office of Global Affairs

IDSA sent this letter to Loyce Pace, appointed to lead the Office of Global Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, offering to a resource and highlighting our global health priorities including accelerating efforts to address AMR, pandemic preparedness and global health security, and ongoing epidemics including HIV and tuberculosis.

World TB Day Briefing

IDSA and colleagues from the TB Roundtable — a coalition of organizations dedicated to TB control in the U.S. and globally — hosted a virtual Congressional briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on global TB control efforts, featuring presentations from leaders at the World Health Organization and USAID, IDSA members and TB treatment and research and development advocates. The briefing was organized in cooperation with the Congressional TB Elimination Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Ami Bera and Don Young, and by Sen. Sherrod Brown, who shared this video message for World TB Day.

World TB Day 2021: As We Make Progress Against COVID-19, We Must Lose More Ground Against Tuberculosis

IDSA Statement for 148^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
January 2021
Item 9: Antimicrobial Resistance

IDSA participated as a non-state actor in the World Health Organization's 148th Executive Board meeting and submitted statements on AMR.

IDSA Statement for 148^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
January 2021
Item 12: Immunization Agenda 2030

IDSA participated as a non-state actor in the World Health Organization's 148th Executive Board meeting and submitted statements on WHO's global immunization plan.

IDSA Statement for 148^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
January 2021
Item 14.1: COVID-19 Response

IDSA participated as a non-state actor in the World Health Organization's 148th Executive Board meeting and submitted statements on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

IDSA Statement for 146^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
February 2020
Item 15.2: Health Emergencies

Global Health Council supported by the Infectious Diseases Society of America commend WHO on its invaluable work in responding to health emergencies. The WHO plays an essential role in strengthening global capacity to respond to health threats and ensuring effective coordination among all actors during health emergencies.

IDSA Statement for 146^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
February 2020
Item 10: Ending TB

Global Health Council supported by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Global Health Technologies Coalition commends WHO and member states on accelerating efforts to meet global TB elimination goals. Despite some progress the world is not on track to end the TB epidemic by 2030.

IDSA Statement for 146^th WHO Executive Board Meeting
February 2020
Item 8: Global vaccine action plan

Global Health Council supported by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Global Health Technologies Coalition commend WHO and member states on progress made towards achieving global immunization targets.

IDSA Statements for UN Multistakeholder Meeting on AMR

5/15/2024

IDSA Letter to Barbados and Malta on UN AMR Meeting

5/13/2024

The 75th United Nations General Assembly Opening Underscores Needs for Multilateral Health Responses

9/15/2020

As the United Nations General Assembly opens for the first time in its 75-year history without an on-site gathering of world leaders, the critical need for international collaboration to end the current pandemic and prevent the next one should be clearer and more compelling than ever.

As a New Pandemic Spreads, World TB Day Reminds us of Unfinished Business

3/24/2020

In the midst of the new global health threat posed by COVID-19, this World TB Day reminds us that global efforts to control the world’s leading infectious disease killer must be accelerated to rid us of our oldest pandemic.

This World AIDS Day Finds Us at a Crossroads

12/2/2019

This World AIDS Day marks a promising and unprecedented point in a quest begun nearly four decades ago to end the global public health threat of HIV through science and solidarity.

Cross-Border Spread of DCR Ebola Outbreak Calls for Immediate, Ongoing Responses

6/12/2019

Uganda health officials’ confirmation today of Ebola virus among family members who travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo brings with it the realization of a concern that has been noted since the August 2018 recognition of the current outbreak.

IDSA Floor Statement for World Health Assembly 72 on Health, Environment, and Climate Change (PDF)

5/17/2019

IDSA floor statement for World Health Assembly 72 on health, environment, and climate change.

IDSA Floor Statements for World Health Assembly 72 on TB and AMR (PDF)

5/17/2019

IDSA floor statement for World Health Assembly 72 on TB and antimicrobial resistance.

Spending Bill Recognizes Crucial Global Health Goals

2/15/2019

The 2019 spending bill passed by the House and Senate Thursday that the President has announced he will sign, reflects a meaningful commitment to moving our country forward and to continued U.S. leadership of the fight against the world’s most devastating infectious disease killers.

WHO/CDC Report on Global Measles Shows Toll of Vaccine Gaps

12/5/2018

New report documents a steep climb in measles cases with severe outbreaks worldwide linked to vaccine coverage gaps indicates stalled momentum in efforts to control a preventable and deadly disease.

United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB Offers Chance to End Global Threat

9/26/2018

The United Nations General Assembly’s first high-level meeting on tuberculosis this week opens the opportunity for international collaboration and commitment toward ending the impacts of the world’s leading infectious disease killer.

Global Health Leaders Celebrate PEPFAR, Call for Increased Support

9/21/2018

Leaders of research and programmatic responses to HIV globally gathered on Capitol Hill Thursday to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief launch and the flagship program’s achievements, but also to cite urgent needs to strengthen and accelerate the program’s efforts toward ending the pandemic.

Subcommittee Hearing Will Present Lawmakers with TB Response Needs

7/12/2018

House Foreign Affairs Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization subcommittee members today will hear from global health leaders on tuberculosis challenges for the first time in the nearly three years since the World Health Organization announced the disease has become the world’s leading infectious killer.

Boosts for PEPFAR, TB Reflect Leadership and Commitment

6/25/2018

The spending bill released Friday by the Senate Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee, proposing the first increase in funding for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in nearly a decade, and the robust increase proposed by the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee for USAID’s global efforts to combat tuberculosis, demonstrate a welcome awareness of the tremendous value of continued U.S. leadership of crucial global health responses.

DRC Ebola Outbreak Demonstrates Need for Continued Investments

5/21/2018

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced May 8 has highlighted meaningful advances as well as critical needs that continue in the wake of the epidemic across Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia that ended two years ago.

Physicians, scientists urge U.S. leadership in UN Meeting on TB

5/21/2018

More than 900 physicians, scientists and researchers confronting tuberculosis across communities in the United States and around the world have signed a letter urging U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley to ensure that the September UN General Assembly High Level Meeting Ending Tuberculosis leads to concrete commitments aimed at eliminating the impacts of the world’s leading infectious disease killer.

Congress Recognizes Value of PEPFAR with Reauthorization; Funding Increases will be Critical

11/29/2018

The Senate's approval reauthorizing PEPFAR acknowledges the program's role in reversing the trajectory of the AIDS pandemic and boosting responses against ID worldwide.

House Testimony on Global Health Programs (PDF)

4/20/2018

IDSA urges for increased funding for State Department and USAID global health programs in this testimony submitted to the House Appropriations Committee.

Statement on World AIDS Day 2017

12/1/2017

On World AIDS Day, while we recognize the progress made against HIV globally, we must measure that progress against the urgent needs that remain.

Global Center Statement on President's FY 2017 Budget (PDF)

2/11/2016

As physician scientists confronting the global TB and HIV pandemics, we were excited last September to see the Obama Administration set new treatment and prevention goals for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Commemorate Progress, Seize Opportunities on World TB Day (PDF)

3/23/2016

We commemorate World TB Day faced with unprecedented challenges and opportunities in the fight against a disease first named 134 years ago today.

IDSA Comments to UN IACG on AMR on Draft Recommendations

2/25/2019

IDSA comments to the United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance draft recommendations. IDSA supports the IACG draft recommendations and offers perspectives to help emphasize the importance of specific recommendations and ideas to further strengthen and operationalize the recommendations.

Bills Support Crucial Public, Global Health, and Research Priorities

6/15/2018

House appropriators soundly rejected White House proposals for global and domestic health program and biomedical research funding cuts that would threaten decades of progress in controlling infectious diseases.

IDSA Presents Priorities at World Health Assembly

5/29/2018

IDSA Presents Priorities at World Health Assembly 2018-05-29 The Infectious Diseases Society of America participated in the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva during the week of May 21 -25, presenting and joining statements reflecting IDSA priorities.

IDSA Comments on Healthy People 2030 (PDF)

1/17/2019

IDSA comments to the Department of Health and Human Services' Secretary's Advisory Committee on National Health and Disease Prevention proposed objectives for Healthy People in the areas of global health, healthcare-associated infections, immunization and infectious disease, opioids, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Joint Letter to Office of US Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy on Need for IPT Data (PDF)

10/5/2016

Letter to Senate Leaders on Military Medical Research (PDF)

6/1/2016

Joint Letter on FDA Priority Review Voucher Program (PDF)

5/19/2016

Report on CROI 2017 (PDF)

5/11/2017

Launched in 1993 as a forum for basic scientists and clinical investigators from around the world to share and discuss laboratory science, clinical trials and evolving practice confronting HIV and its associated impacts, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections has provided the setting for presentations of landmark research heralding advances against the pandemic.

Report on 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health (PDF)

5/11/2017

The resistance that enabled tuberculosis to resurge from a sickness considered all but conquered in the last century, to one that in this century kills more people than any other infectious disease on earth, goes beyond the mutations of the bacteria that survive initial treatment.

Fogarty International Center (PDF)

4/26/2017

The Fogarty International Center, founded in 1968 and part of the National Institutes of Health, connects American scientists and health-care professionals with their global health peers to support basic, clinical, and applied research along with training programs in low-and middle-income countries.

Updated Zika White Paper 2017 (PDF)

4/26/2017

Before the 2015 arrival of Zika virus in the Western Hemisphere, a mosquito bite had never before been linked to a devastating birth defect.

New White Paper on Tuberculosis (PDF)

1/11/2017

About a third of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium that causes active, infectious tuberculosis disease. While 90 percent of infected people will not progress to disease, people with compromised immune systems, including from HIV, face much greater risks of illness.

New White Paper on Global Antimicrobial Resistance (PDF)

9/30/2016

The development of medicines that control bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi ushered in the era of modern medicine over the last century.

Report on 2016 International AIDS Conference (PDF)

8/18/2016

The 2016 International AIDS Conference returned to the South African city and to a country that is home to the largest HIV treatment program in the world, while more than 17 million people globally are accessing antiretroviral treatment.

New White Paper on HIV (PDF)

4/25/2016

Since surfacing in 1981, the global HIV pandemic is estimated to have infected 78 million people, killed 39 million, left more than 17 million orphans, reversed an upward trend in life expectancy around the world, and, in the process, turned the clock back on health systems, education and economic development in some of the poorest countries in the world. Today, more than 37 million people worldwide are infected with HIV.

New White Paper on Zika (PDF)

4/20/2016

Before the 2015 arrival of Zika virus in the Western Hemisphere, a mosquito bite had never before been linked to a devastating birth defect.

Redeployment: Opportunities to Control HIV and TB in Tanzania (PDF)

4/30/2015

The Infectious Diseases Society of America Education and Research Foundation Center for Global Health Policy hosted five Congressional staff delegates on a visit to Tanzania in October 2014 to witness the impacts of United States investments in responses to the HIV and tuberculosis epidemics there, and to discover obstacles to prevention and treatment of those diseases in the country.

Countdown: Global HIV, Responses, Results

This briefing paper from IDSA chronicles the progress made over the past decade in eliminating HIV/AIDS as a global public health threat, and looks ahead at the work that remains in achieving epidemic control.

Global Health Careers

In an interconnected world where an infectious disease outbreak in a developing country is just a plane ride away from major cities around the world, ID physicians and researchers have an increasingly important role to play in global health. This document outlines opportunities and issues to consider for ID professionals interested in advancing global health responses and research.

Red Ribbon or White Flag? The Future of the US Global AIDS Response (PDF)

12/1/2017

This report from the ONE campaign details the impacts of the White House’s proposed budget cuts to US global HIV funding and subsequent PEPFAR strategy on the global AIDS response.

The Ascent Begins: Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005-2016

11/8/2017

The latest report from the Treatment Action Group on funding trends for global tuberculosis research and development shows there has been increases in spending on TB research, but overall funding remains inadequate for achieving global goals to eliminate the epidemic by 2030.

Healthier World, Safer America: A US Government Roadmap for International Action to Prevent the Next Pandemic (PDF)

10/24/2017

This report from PATH analyzes the importance of developing a robust pipeline of new drugs, diagnostics, vaccines and other technologies for diseases likely to become pandemics, and outlines recommendations for action from the US government to prevent the next pandemic.

What's New?

IDSA Statements for UN Multistakeholder Meeting on AMR

IDSA Letter to Barbados and Malta on UN AMR Meeting

The 75th United Nations General Assembly Opening Underscores Needs for Multilateral Health Responses

As a New Pandemic Spreads, World TB Day Reminds us of Unfinished Business

This World AIDS Day Finds Us at a Crossroads

Cross-Border Spread of DCR Ebola Outbreak Calls for Immediate, Ongoing Responses

IDSA Floor Statement for World Health Assembly 72 on Health, Environment, and Climate Change (PDF)

IDSA Floor Statements for World Health Assembly 72 on TB and AMR (PDF)

Spending Bill Recognizes Crucial Global Health Goals

WHO/CDC Report on Global Measles Shows Toll of Vaccine Gaps

United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB Offers Chance to End Global Threat

Global Health Leaders Celebrate PEPFAR, Call for Increased Support

Subcommittee Hearing Will Present Lawmakers with TB Response Needs

Boosts for PEPFAR, TB Reflect Leadership and Commitment

DRC Ebola Outbreak Demonstrates Need for Continued Investments

Physicians, scientists urge U.S. leadership in UN Meeting on TB

Congress Recognizes Value of PEPFAR with Reauthorization; Funding Increases will be Critical

House Testimony on Global Health Programs (PDF)

Statement on World AIDS Day 2017

Global Center Statement on President's FY 2017 Budget (PDF)

Commemorate Progress, Seize Opportunities on World TB Day (PDF)

IDSA Comments to UN IACG on AMR on Draft Recommendations

Bills Support Crucial Public, Global Health, and Research Priorities

IDSA Presents Priorities at World Health Assembly

IDSA Comments on Healthy People 2030 (PDF)

IDSA and HIVMA Global Impact: 2018 and Beyond

IDSA and HIVMA Letter on NDAA (PDF)

IDSA Letter to New WHO Director General (PDF)

IDSA Letter to New USAID Administrator

IDSA Letter on Moscow TB Declaration (PDF)

Letter to Secretary of State on Global HIV Funding

GAPP Politico Ad

Medical Societies Write to HHS Secretary on Fogarty (PDF)

Physicians Ask President Trump for Robust Global ID Response (PDF)

Joint Letter to Office of US Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy on Need for IPT Data (PDF)

Letter to Senate Leaders on Military Medical Research (PDF)

Joint Letter on FDA Priority Review Voucher Program (PDF)

Report on CROI 2017 (PDF)

Report on 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health (PDF)

Fogarty International Center (PDF)

Updated Zika White Paper 2017 (PDF)

New White Paper on Tuberculosis (PDF)

New White Paper on Global Antimicrobial Resistance (PDF)

Report on 2016 International AIDS Conference (PDF)

New White Paper on HIV (PDF)

New White Paper on Zika (PDF)

Redeployment: Opportunities to Control HIV and TB in Tanzania (PDF)

Countdown: Global HIV, Responses, Results

Global Health Careers

Red Ribbon or White Flag? The Future of the US Global AIDS Response (PDF)

The Ascent Begins: Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005-2016

Healthier World, Safer America: A US Government Roadmap for International Action to Prevent the Next Pandemic (PDF)