Opinion | Minnesota can help rebuild global health

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For generations, Minnesotans have led the world in medical innovation and global health. From Rochester’s mission-driven physicians to global nonprofits headquartered across our state, Minnesotan leadership in development promotes stability and saves lives. Today, however, the world’s most vulnerable communities face a crisis; and we believe our Minnesota congressional delegation has a critical role to play in solving it.

Over the past year global health funding from the United States and other international donors has declined significantly. The impact has been devastating. Dr. Nkatha Njeru, CEO of the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform, which coordinates 40 national Christian health networks and supports 10,000 facilities providing care for more than half a billion people, affirmed that services for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis have been severely curtailed. Njeru said that cuts to local outreach are undermining treatment adherence, especially for adolescents living with HIV.

The crisis was laid bare at the recent “One Faith, One Voice” conference in Nairobi, where Christian leaders from 10 African nations gathered to respond to the shortfalls. “We don’t have to wait until the taps are finally locked in Europe and America,” said Bishop Matthew Kukah of Nigeria, urging African governments to increase domestic health investment. But African leaders were equally clear that U.S. partnership remains indispensable.

These realities matter for both moral and strategic reasons. Global health programs make up far less than 1% of the federal budget, yet they are among our nation’s most effective investments. Child mortality has plummeted, HIV infections have fallen dramatically and malaria deaths have been cut by more than half in many regions. Much of this progress has been achieved through public-private partnerships, especially with faith-based organizations (FBOs) that are deeply embedded in the communities they serve.

Minnesotans understand this well. Many clinics and hospitals in Africa that receive USAID or PEPFAR support are long-term partners of Minnesota churches, mission agencies and medical professionals. These collaborations reflect our conviction that every life bears God’s image and that compassion across borders enriches our own communities.

That is why Minnesota’s congressional delegation, Democrats and Republicans alike, must take immediate action to restore confidence and save lives. First, the State Department should explicitly include faith-based health providers in new bilateral agreements. In many countries, these organizations are the most trusted and effective implementers on the ground, delivering the majority of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis services. Excluding them from formal agreements undermines both reach and impact.

Second, future U.S. global health funding must be conditional on strong transparency and anti-corruption safeguards. African faith leaders themselves are emphasizing this need. The U.S. can support them by requiring technology-based monitoring, supply-chain tracking, and data-sharing systems that protect both taxpayers and patients.

Finally, Congress must allocate additional global health funding structured with these accountability requirements and inclusive of faith-based partners to stabilize programs now in jeopardy. We cannot allow decades of progress against life-threatening diseases to unravel.

Dr. Susan Hillis, an epidemiologist who has led global health initiatives across 40 nations, emphasized at a faith-based global health event in Rochester last month how vital it is to strengthen faith, nonprofit and government partnerships moving forward: “We’re witnessing an unprecedented opportunity for faith and science to work together, not in competition but in partnership, for the world’s most vulnerable.”

Our state has always punched above its weight in global health. At this critical moment, Minnesotans can once again help lead by urging our delegation to ensure that America’s global health partnerships remain effective, accountable and rooted in compassion. The lives of the vulnerable and the values we hold depend on it.