CARE, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the World Affairs Council of Atlanta – joined by other prominent friends from around America – have recently come together in Atlanta to chart a path for the United States to improve the world’s health for the future.

Why meet now?

Because we live in a period of significant promise, where there is a remarkable opportunity to do good. Thanks in large part to U.S. leadership, the past decade has seen enormous progress in controlling disease, improving maternal and child health, and building common global defenses against pandemic threats. We can build on that progress.

Why Atlanta?

Because Atlanta is a global hub of leading health and development organizations, with a legacy of struggle for civil rights and social justice. Moreover, it is a leader in forging innovative partnerships, across government, business, universities, and the non-profit sector, that enhance lives. When it comes to informing the next administration and Congress of what can and should be done to promote U.S. national interests in improving the world’s health, Atlantans speak with authority.

What is to be done?

First, remind Americans that making the world healthier is rooted in Americans’ humanitarianism, and that better health makes for a safer and more secure world, where communities can flourish and productivity can rise.

Second, point the next administration and Congress to concrete priority actions, such as helping our developing country partners become sustainably self-reliant. If we invest intelligently today in building national capacities, our partners in the developing world will be able to stand in the coming years on their own feet.

We also need to work better with others on the problems that are too great for us to solve alone. Stronger, better managed international organizations – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank – are key to long-term success and shared global responsibility.

Similarly, we need to enlist emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil, and South Africa to bring their full potential to the table. Within their borders are millions of poor people who are underserved. And outside their borders, emerging powers bring greater voice, expertise, resources and leadership to tackle common global problems.

Finally, we need to integrate safe water, sanitation and hygiene into our health approaches. That long overdue change will improve nutrition and food security, lower child mortality, and better control infectious disease.

Today we are able to look beyond our differences and the many challenges we face at home and abroad. We are able to spotlight the historic achievements championed by Presidents Obama and Bush in the area of global health, and think strategically about the future gains that U.S. leadership can bring in health and water.

For more information, please visit www.SmartGlobalHealth.org/Atlanta.

The Atlanta Declaration on Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Global Health & Water from CSIS on Vimeo.