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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Bush Visits Africa, Boosts Aid
FrontLines: March 2008
President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush visited five African countries in February where he announced plans to continue to boost U.S. aid to that continent by billions of dollars to fight AIDS, malaria, illiteracy, and poverty.
Bush said he was moved by the gratitude of many Africans he met who benefited from U.S. aid programs which have quadrupled
since he took office.
For example, he met Moses Kwalula Jr., 15, one of 11,000 Liberian youths who—after years of civil war—returned
to school thanks to USAID’s accelerated learning programs. These activities help people from 10 to 35 years old complete
the six-year elementary school curriculum in three years, and provide life skills training
to those entering the workforce.
“In my first term, we more than doubled development assistance to Africa, and at the beginning of my second term,
I asked the United States Congress to double our assistance
again,” Bush said Feb. 26 in Washington in a speech to the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation reviewing his African trip.
“America is on a mission
of mercy,” he added. “We’re treating African leaders as equal partners. We expect them to produce measurable results. We expect them to fight corruption,
and invest in the health and education of their people, and pursue market-based economic
policies.”
In Benin, his first stop, President Boni Yayi told Bush that the USAID-managed Malaria Initiative and $307 million Millennium Challenge Compact are helping alleviate poverty and save lives.
“Laura and Mrs.[Chantal
de Souza] Yayi met with girls who have received scholarships through our Africa Education Initiative . . . uniforms and books and oil lanterns that allow students to read at night. Many of these girls are the first in their family to complete primary
school,” Bush said.
In Tanzania, the second African country of the visit, Bush said President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete told him “America’s support is helping Tanzania improve education, and fight HIV/AIDS, and dramatically
reduce malaria.”
Bush then signed the largest Millennium Challenge Compact in the history of the program providing $698 million for transportation, energy and water.
The U.S. president also called, at a press conference, for the U.S. Congress to
reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and double the initial commitment to $30 billion over the next five years.
Bush noted that the number of people receiving anti-AIDS medicines rose from 50,000 in 2003 to more than 1.3 million.
He also hailed the drastic reduction of malaria cases in Zanzibar from 20 percent of infants to one percent after U.S. inputs of medicines and mosquito
nets.
Calling the suffering caused by malaria “needless,” and “every death caused by malaria . . . unacceptable,” Bush announced in a hospital in Arusha an initiative, in partnership
with the World Bank and the Global Fund, to distribute 5.2 million free bed nets in Tanzania—enough to protect every child in the country between the ages of 1 and 5. He also visited the factory where 1,200 workers assemble the nets.
In Rwanda, the third stop, Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame signed a bilateral treaty to open investment and trade. Bush also announced
the return of the Peace Corps for the first time since 1993 and announced that the United States has committed $100 million to assist African nations willing to serve in Darfur.
Next, in Ghana, Bush announced a new “$350
million initiative to target neglected tropical diseases
like river blindness and hookworm
across the globe.”
At the Maamobi Polyclinic
in Ghana, Mrs. Bush visited a USAID program to save lives from malaria and malnutrition —two preventable causes of death in children. Implemented by NetMark, the program
also works to improve lives through economic empowerment
by enlisting Ghana’s “Umbrella Ladies” or women entrepreneurs who sit under umbrellas selling goods. Located strategically in health facilities or in their communities,
the Ladies will sell insecticide-
treated bed nets.
The final stop was Liberia where the President and First Lady met students in accelerated
learning programs.
“Congress needs to make America’s commitment clear by fully and promptly funding our development programs,” Bush told the Sullivan Foundation. “And presidential candidates of both parties should make clear that engagement with Africa will be an enduring priority of the United States.”
Chris Thomas contributed to this article.
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