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Global Fund is a win-win

Kudos to Willie Dickerson for pointing out our planet’s most effective force to battle pandemic disease: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria (“Fighting pandemic disease,” Sept. 1).

Poverty is both a cause and a result of disease. Did you know that just one-fourth of 1% of our federal budget goes to global health? Yet the Global Fund strengthens health care systems to fight sudden outbreaks such as Ebola, increases stability in fragile countries, and engenders economic benefits by protecting the health of families, particularly the bread-winners. But growing drug resistance, underfunding and diminishing political will threaten its progress.

Malaria-free countries have five times the economic growth than countries with malaria. Eleven of the top 15 U.S. export markets were once U.S. foreign aid recipients. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is a win-win. It is imperative that we support it.

Donna Schindler Munro

Bremerton, Wash.

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