Financing Global Health’s Future: Beyond the Budget Cuts

U.S. overseas development assistance (ODA) and other forms of global health funding face major reductions that threaten decades of progress in disease prevention, health equity, and pandemic preparedness. Proposed US government changes include deep cuts to the President’s Malaria Initiative, elimination of support for Gavi and reduced support for the Global Fund, the elimination of USAID and an uncertain future for PEPFAR. These changes are projected to leave millions vulnerable to preventable diseases and premature death. Alarmingly, this retreat from global health assistance is not isolated—similar declines in health-focused aid are underway in Britain, Canada, and European Union states, among others.

Responding to this abrupt change requires considering new approaches to how global health can be and arguably always should have been financed. The current model, which relies heavily on unpredictable donor funding, often leaves health systems fragmented and politically vulnerable. It also largely places the power outside the impacted communities. This webinar will explore other mechanisms for global health financing and how long-term investments in health workforce development, strategic partnerships, and fiscal policy reforms might support a more sustainable, equitable, and locally owned global health future.

This event is free and open to the public.

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Vanessa Kerry, MD, MSc
WHO Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health; Co-founder and CEO, SEED Global Health

Dr. Kerry is the co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, a non-profit organization focused on health systems strengthening and transformation through long-term investments and training of the health workforce. Under her leadership, Seed has helped educate more than 45,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives in seven countries, helping to improve health care for more than 76 million people.

In June 2023, Dr. Kerry was appointed WHO Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health. She has spoken and written about the effects of climate change on human health and health systems and the need to integrate a health-centered response into climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Dr. Kerry supported the UAE COP28 Presidency to shape the first-ever COP Day of Health on December 3, 2023 and continues to lead efforts globally to build advocacy around the impact of climate change on health and ensure equitable and just climate action.

As co-chair of a workstream on the World Health Organization’s Public Health and Emergency Health Workforce Roadmap, she is helping to galvanize consensus for investment in surveillance, detection, and treatment for the next pandemic.

Dr. Kerry is a critical care-trained physician and the director of Global and Climate Health Policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She also serves as the director of Global Public Policy at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health. She has two children.

Jayati Ghosh, PhD, MPhil, MA
Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Professor Ghosh currently works as a Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Previously, she taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for nearly 35 years. She has authored and/or edited 20 books and more than 200 scholarly articles. Ghosh has been awarded several prizes, including the International Labor Organization’s Decent Work Research Prize for 2011; and most recently, the 2023 Galbraith award of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, “in recognition of breakthrough discoveries in economics and outstanding contributions to humanity through leadership, research and service.”

Professor Ghosh has advised governments in India and other countries and consulted for various international organizations. For two decades, from 2002 to 2021, she was the Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates. Ghosh is a member of several international boards and commissions, including the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, and the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.

About the Global Health Coffee Sessions

The Global Health Coffee Sessions virtual series pivots with a new lineup of timely conversations at the intersection of health, policy, and global cooperation. Held on the last Friday of each month from 9:00–10:00 AM ET, this series brings together global health experts, policymakers, and practitioners from Harvard and beyond for dynamic, forward-looking discussions.

This spring, we’ll explore how the U.S. engages with global health institutions, what its budget priorities say about its global health commitments, and how misinformation is reshaping public understanding. The series will continue with new topics and speakers throughout the year.

From multilateral health governance to budget breakdowns and media literacy, each session aims to spark thoughtful conversation, highlight real-world challenges, and offer actionable insights into the future of global health.

All sessions are hosted virtually via Zoom, recorded, and available afterward on our YouTube Channel.

The Harvard Global Health Institute provides a platform for different perspectives and debates within the field of global health through a variety of media. The views expressed in these events and programs are solely those of the speakers, authors, researchers, and participating audience. As such, they do not speak for the institute or the university.