MAP International held the annual Bill Foege Global Health Awards May 15. Much to the delight of those attending the event at the Delta Flight Museum, Bill Foege was a featured guest.
Foege, 89, picked Atlanta to be his home 65 years ago because it was the home of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has been a magnet that has helped make Atlanta a center for global health.
But because of federal budget cuts under the current administration, many of the organizations that provide global health to disadvantaged communities around the world have had to cut back their efforts.
Foege wrote an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution decrying those budget cuts a day before the Foege Awards event.
During his brief remarks to the audience, Foege spoke of the “value of helping a neighbor” – a spirit he has practiced his entire career.
When he was at the CDC in the late 1970s (before becoming its director), Foege led the efforts to eradicate smallpox, and he is credited for having saved the lives of 120 million people. Foege went on to become the first director of the Carter Center, where he launched the global health efforts of the institution along with former President Jimmy Carter. Foege also was responsible for creating the Decatur-based Task Force for Global Health. He then joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, helping develop its role as a major player in global health before returning to his adopted home of Atlanta. In 2012, Foege was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Dr. Foege, we appreciate your being here with us,” Chris Palombo, President and CEO of MAP International, said at the event. “We are honored to have you here and to celebrate your work and all you’ve done in humanity.”
Foege said MAP International exemplifies the field of global health, saying MAP stands for Medicines for All People.
“The power of science doesn’t come from its existence,” Foege said. “The power comes from its use.”
Foege said we talk about compassion and empathy, but those words mean nothing unless they lead to something – which is the work MAP International does along with some many other Atlanta-based organizations.
In addition to the CDC, the Carter Center, MAP and the Task Force for Global Health, there’s CARE, the CDC Foundation, the Emory Global Health Institute, MedShare International, Habitat for Humanity International, Morehouse School of Medicine, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and too many other organizations to name.
Efforts to develop a Georgia Global Health Alliance have fizzled, but leaders still hope there will be a way for the organizations in Atlanta and the state to work together to improve health outcomes around the world.
“MAP’s work is now more crucial than it’s ever been,” Palombo said. “Just last year alone, through powerful partnerships, some of which are represented by leaders in this room right now, we provided $912 million worth of medicine and health supplies in 92 countries, resulting in 47 million patient treatments.”
The Foege event also included a conversation moderated by journalist Bill Nigut with panelists Mark Rosenberg, retired CEO of the Task Force for Global Health; James Curran, former dean of the Rollins School of Public Health; and Russell Medford, CEO of Covanos.
Rosenberg said the public should care about the health of people in other countries for three reasons. First, diseases that start in other countries will find their way to the United States.
“They start there, and they come here, so it protects us,” said Rosenberg, who apologized of being part of a panel of old American white men. “We have a self-interest in global health and the early detection of the diseases that are starting in other places and treating them there so that they don’t come here.”
The second reason is compassion. “We are humans, and we’re connected to other people in other parts of the world, and when they suffer, when they’re sick, our humanity suffers,” he said.
And third, the United States can learn from working in poor countries trying to deal with medical problems.
“We do not have the best medical system here in this country,” Rosenberg said. “Maybe among rich countries, we rank 24th or 25th. We stand to learn a lot from poverty…a great pressure for innovation.”
Mostly the panelists sidestepped the current political pressures that have led to cuts in global health, whether it be U.S. AID or the CDC.
“We have to figure out a way to survive what may be a temporary maladjustment,” Curran said, adding that “the world is horribly interconnected.”
Later Curran added: “We need additional philanthropy from many organizations, and we need advocacy from people who are not afraid to speak out because they’re too tied to a political party or too tied to a university, too tied to CDC or U.S. AID. (We need people) to speak out and advocate not for the parties but for the programs they represent. We need more articles like Bill Foege had in the paper today, because it’s crucial.”
Medford echoed Foege’s comments that “the power of science doesn’t come from its existence; it comes from its use.”
Medford added that collaboration and communicating results with objective metrics “is the way to rebuild and strengthen the trust of the American people in global health and our leaders in public health. Fundamentally, this is the way we’ll be able to advance ourselves through the challenging times now.”
The 2025 recipients of the Foege Awards were President George W. Bush and Laura Bush; Dr. Jim Kim, former president of the World Bank, Merck pharmaceutical company, WellStar, the Atlanta Hawks and the YMCA of Metro Atlanta; and Steve Sterling, who recently retired as CEO of MAP International.
Foege highlighted the work of President Bush and his investment of $15 billion in HIV/AIDs prevention in Africa, remembering a trip to Botswana when 40 percent of its adult population and 50 percent of children were testing positive for HIV, a virtual death sentence.
“Now the $15 billion has now gone on to $100 billion spent on AIDS,” Foege said. “But 25 million people are alive because of that program.”
Curran said it’s important to think long term. “Public health is always political,” Curran said. “It shouldn’t be and needn’t be partisan.”
Rosenberg agreed.
“We shouldn’t let partisan politics stand in our way,” Rosenberg said. “We can get across it. That’s what MAP international does. They work with partners of all people. It’s not blue children who are dying here or red children who are dying there. More than ever, we need it now.”
Palombo summed up the evening by saying he heard a lot of hope and people taking responsibility.
“There’s more to be done,” said Palombo, who highlighted the role Atlanta can continue to play in the global health field. “Atlanta has a unique status in so many ways across global health.”
Conversations, stated collaborative effort, about many diseases worldwide continues to flow, yet we still ponder. “SEPSIS” is a disease that’s plagued mankind since 2700 BC, killing people worldwide! Noted persons such as former President George Herbert Bush, Muhammad Ali and many others died because of SEPSIS! I listen, and discussions about it, appear to be just a whisper! My empirical observations and knowledge about this malady, the way it’s managed concerns me because “actions” have not found a common denominator, informed people to eradicate it! Awareness, education and enhanced medical protocols standardized is necessary to end the reign of SEPSIS! Active, purposeful communication between doctor to doctor, nurse to nurse and people to people is key. Let’s make a difference now because all of us are vulnerable.