Speeches Shim
On March 11, front line health care workers in 13 areas of Madagascar hard hit by Covid-19 received welcome assistance – “head-to-toe” personal protective equipment (PPE) donated by the U.S. government to keep these critical health workers healthy and continuing their vital work of caring for their patients sick with the coronavirus.
Madagascar’s most iconic baobab tree species, the Adansonia grandidieri Baillon, are economically valuable and culturally emblematic of the nation. They are also orphans.
Research botanists like University of Antananarivo’s Dr. Seheno Andriantsaralaza consider plants like the baobab “orphaned” because the animals that naturally disperse the baobab’s seeds have disappeared, endangering the trees’ ability to reproduce.
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Tobias Glucksman led a briefing by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officials to outline USAID’s new five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Liva Djacoba Tehindrazanarivelo and other Government of Madagascar Ministers. Under the new strategic plan, the U.S. government will remain Madagascar’s foremost development partner, investing more than $490 million in development assistance over the next five-years to help the Malagasy people improve their well-being and resilience and to drive Madagascar’s journey to self-reliance.
U.S. Ambassador Michael Pelletier and the First President of the Supreme Court of Madagascar Rajaona Andriamanankiandrianina announced a new $4 million U.S. government-funded program that will build the capacity of Madagascar’s Court of Accounts and improve the management of public funds.
In response to this critical issue, the University of Antananarivo Department of Ecology and Plant Biology, with funding from the U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and support from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, has built Madagascar’s second precious hardwood reference library, or Xylarium.
Alongside President Andry Rajoelina, U.S. Ambassador Michael P. Pelletier was pleased to announce three new projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), making an additional $100 million commitment by the United States to combat food insecurity in Madagascar. Through these projects, the Government of the United States, working side-by-side with the Government of Madagascar, will respond to the urgent needs of families in hunger and provide long-term solutions to food insecurity in the south and southeast of Madagascar.
The COVID-19 pandemic threatens more than the health and livelihoods of Madagascar’s people; it also jeopardizes thousands of critically endangered tortoises currently in the care of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA). Facing a projected 80% drop in funding from its largest supporters -- zoos and aquariums now shuttered due to COVID-19 -- TSA thought it would soon be forced to prematurely release thousands of critically endangered tortoises under its care in Madagascar.
Malaria remains a severe risk to millions of people in Madagascar. It is the fourth leading cause of disease and one of the top reasons people seek care at health centers. Since the beginning of the year, over 1.4 million people in Madagascar, 5.6% of the population, have fallen ill with malaria. The U.S. Government is the largest single country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $62 million each year to fund the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) health activities, including $26 million for malaria prevention and treatment.
The United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Power Africa initiative, has awarded three companies in Madagascar a combined $1.2 million in grant funding to develop mini-grids that will bring electricity to more than 5,200 rural homes and businesses. These grants are part of the U.S. Government’s $3 million effort to increase energy production and electricity access in Madagascar. Since 2018, the initiative has helped more than 57,000 people gain access to electricity and will, by 2022, provide electricity to over 400,000 people.
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Last updated: March 30, 2021
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