You know the dangers of encountering new and dangerous micro-organisms when people push farther and farther into wilderness areas. You know that when more and more people crowd into the slums of megacities, conditions are ideal for disease organisms to mutate into new and dangerous forms. You must help us get the message to the public and to the decisionmakers. If the United States and other donor nations want to influence the leaders of developing nations and nations making the transition to democracy and market economies, they will have to do it largely by example. And by our refusal to support things we think are wrong or unimportant.
Health is also a major part of our portfolio.
Yet to do accomplish all that, we get less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget. Our budgets have been dramatically cut during the 1990s as part of the deficit reduction effort. Meanwhile, natural disasters, mass migrations, civil wars were multiplying the needs in a number of areas around the world. This decade has also provided special opportunities for helping newly independent nations and nations coming out of long conflicts establish democractic institutions and free market economies. But following up on these opportunities requires resources.