Speeches Shim
The importance that we place on this long-standing health partnership with the John F. Kennedy Hospital is indicated by the fact that several different United States Government agencies are involved. They include USAID, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute for Health (NIH), the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Department of State’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.
The list of successful companies founded by graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology—both in America and here in India—seems endless. The technical breakthroughs discovered here, from mathematics to quantum mechanics to computer science, are frankly too numerous for me to mention and certainly way too complex for me to try to describe.
I am honored and excited to participate in today’s meeting organized by the Cambodia Malaria Elimination Project 2 together with National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM), and CMEP 2 sub-grantees and CMEP 2 staff.
I've come to Somalia because the country and its people are facing an unprecedented food crisis that risks becoming a catastrophe. And Somalia has had its share of challenges when it comes to food security in the past, it has experienced many, many droughts, of course through its history. The people are used to these cycles. But what makes this different is really just how long it is extending, having four straight failed rainy seasons really is unprecedented.
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Larry Andre. I am the United States Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia and it is my honor, my team and I, to host today, our Administrator for the United States Agency for International Development Samantha Power. She is a key adviser of President Biden. She is formerly the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She sits on our National Security Council and has a rich experience in humanitarian issues especially, but also development issues worldwide.
Climate change, COVID, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have strained global food supplies, and in countries where food scarcity was already an issue, these factors have been proven devastating. The United Nations estimates that 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021, with children being particularly hard hit. Every 11 seconds, one child dies from acute malnutrition.
Part of what we are trying to do here is draw global public attention to this unprecedented humanitarian emergency that is occurring in the Horn of Africa, that is occurring here in Turkana, in northern Kenya, that is occurring in many, many communities in the region. There are 19 million people now in the Horn of Africa, dependent on emergency humanitarian assistance. Think of every one of the individuals that are part of that 19 million and how important it is that they be able to receive that assistance.
Well done to you all for working so hard over these past four weeks to successfully complete the requirements of your training. On behalf of the USAID/Southern Africa Regional Mission…it is indeed a great pleasure for me to join you the new graduates of the YALI Regional Leadership Center for Southern Africa.
The objective of today's meeting is one, understand the current status of drought situation in the country; two, draw international attention to the drought situation in Kenya and the Horn of Africa; three, share the government added pertinent intervention in response to reducing drought, one of [inaudible] in Kenya; four, understand the resource gap and the proposed way forward to addressing the drought situation in the both short-, medium-, and long-term. I appreciate the U.S. government for its continued support to Kenya, which is demonstrated today by the high-level USAID delegation led by Administrator Samantha Power.
The United States Congress, reflecting the great decency of the American people, has helped mobilize an unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis, but other governments, foundations, people in the private sector, and anyone else who can help, must stand with us to meet this moment.
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Last updated: August 19, 2022
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