Global health leaders are looking to the Obama administration to make up for a deepening shortfall in financing for efforts to combat malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

More countries, especially in Africa, are seeing success in expanding and improving disease treatment, say health experts, but this success is feeding demand for services. The United States has yet to approve its 2009 contribution to the Global Fund, the international partnership that since 2001 has become the primary source of funds to fight those three diseases in the developing world. And it is already $1-billion behind in honoring pledges made under the Bush administration.