•HCON 247 IH 
maternal and newborn health, the lack of family planning 
services, and the absence of clean water; 
Whereas HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria disproportion-
ately affect the poor; 
Whereas proven and cost-effective solutions that have already 
achieved astonishing successes are readily available and 
could dramatically further reduce the burden of death 
and disease, including access to immunization, anti-
biotics, diarrheal disease control, newborn care, improved 
nutrition, antiretrovirals, essential obstetric care, family 
planning, anti-malarials and insecticide treated nets, and 
tuberculosis treatment; 
Whereas long-term gains in health require a comprehensive 
approach that addresses the range of critical health prob-
lems and builds local capacity while ensuring equitable 
access, especially by the poor, women and girls, and other 
vulnerable populations, to services; 
Whereas on May 25, 2007, a United States citizen was quar-
antined by the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion under authorities of the Public Health Service Act 
after tests indicated the individual was infected with ex-
tensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB)—an 
emergent type of tuberculosis which is resistant to almost 
all medications available to treat the disease; 
Whereas the United States citizen had traveled to France, 
Italy, the Czech Republic, and Canada before returning 
to the United States, potentially infecting dozens of peo-
ple; 
Whereas, although XDR TB cases have been found primarily 
in Africa and Eastern Europe, the case of this United 
States citizen demonstrates that infectious diseases have 
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•HCON 247 IH 
no borders and underscores the need for sound public 
health systems abroad and in the United States; and 
Whereas the United States has a history of leadership and 
success in building international consensus and improving 
health throughout the world by investing in basic health 
services, particularly services for poor and vulnerable 
populations: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) recognizes that contributing to improving 
health in developing nations is in the vital interest 
of the United States, as it helps protect the health 
of the American people, facilitates development 
among partner nations, cultivates a positive image 
for the United States, and projects the humanitarian 
values of the American people; 
(2) acknowledges the need to strengthen health 
care systems to meet essential health needs, includ-
ing surveillance and information systems, facilities 
and equipment, management capacity, and an ade-
quately compensated health care work force that is 
appropriate in number, composition, and skills; 
(3) recognizes that investments in health, par-
ticularly investments that reach disadvantaged popu-
lations, contribute to poverty alleviation; 
(4) supports the unprecedented and unparal-
leled investments of the United States in reducing 
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•HCON 247 IH 
the global burdens of HIV/AIDS and malaria 
through the President’s Emergency Program for 
AIDS Relief and the President’s Malaria Initiative; 
and 
(5) encourages the United States Government 
to expand its adoption and implementation of poli-
cies and programs that alleviate the greatest burden 
of disease in developing nations in the most efficient 
and cost-effective manner possible. 
Æ 
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