I would like to welcome all of you this morning for what we hope will be a very informative briefing on wildlife consumption in Thailand – “What drives someone to purchase ivory and tiger products?” Today, we will gain insights into the motivation behind wildlife consumption, as well as the barriers to changing related consumer behavior.
Events like this speak to who we are as an Agency and as Americans. For more than two centuries, as a vast melting pot, we have shared our cultures, our traditions.... and we have most definitely enjoyed sharing our food! Ramadan is a time when the Muslim world stops to focus on Islamic teachings regarding not just prayer, but also compassion, community, and generosity toward the poor. It is a fitting occasion for us at USAID to do the same.
Dumelang! This is my first visit to Bloemfontein, but already I can see why it is known as the city of flowers and also a province that is producing great readers. Thank you for inviting me here for the launch of the Accelerated Early Grade Reading Project, a project that speaks to the future of South Africa.
USAID has a long history of partnering with the Department of Health to ensure that all Filipinos can enjoy the quality health services that they need. To promote this shared goal, USAID and the Department of Health are embarking on a new partnership to build the capacity of the Filipino health workforce workers to respond to the country’s priority health needs. We are investing in the health workforce because strong and capable human resources for health improve health outcomes and save lives.
The U.S.-India development relationship spans more than 70 years. In that time, USAID has partnered with the Government of India in overcoming some of the country’s most pressing development challenges -- such as acute food insecurity and inadequate infrastructure -- while also strengthening the government’s capacity to manage and implement its own development agenda.
USAID’s historical infrastructure-related accomplishments in India are significant: we helped establish the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Kanpur); 14 regional engineering colleges; eight agricultural universities producing world-class research; 20 thermal and hydroelectric power plants; and over 1,000 irrigation systems. We also helped launch the first municipal bond for water supply and sanitation infrastructure development in India.
Good morning, everyone. It's good to be here with all of you. Thank you, Teresa, for that kind introduction. As she mentioned, this is my third visit to Myanmar. Every time I come here, I am impressed both with the beauty of your country and the generosity and the optimism of your people.
Thank you, Teresa, and good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be with you. I'm delighted to be here. I appreciate your warm welcome. More importantly, I appreciate all your hard work in making this whole trip go so smoothly. As was mentioned, I'm a former ambassador and congressman. Therefore, I have hosted visits, I have lead visits, I have been on visits. I know how well they appear and how much work goes in, and I also know what a wheels-up party feels like, so I hope you're anticipating yours. But as was mentioned, before we open it up to questions and in any subject at all, everything's fair game, I thought I'd give you a few thoughts on our work here in Myanmar, and then a little bit on the USAID Redesign Transformation project. I know that all of that is obviously on your minds.
Over the past 67 years, India and United States have shared a mutually rewarding relationship. USAID has been working in partnership with the Government of India to test, develop, and deploy innovative and transformative technologies to address critical problems of food production. These technologies and approaches have helped India to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the collaborative achievements that have been made under this partnership. We have managed to increase the number of TB cases we detected by 5 percent over last year’s achievements, despite the decline in national TB case notification. In 2017, Challenge-TB contributed over one quarter of the total TB cases, or over 8,000. It was also responsible for over half of the childhood TB cases that were diagnosed. The project accounted for 90 percent of all children under 5 in Cambodia who received preventive therapy for TB.
It is my great pleasure to join you here today to celebrate the many achievements of the Ministry of Public Health on malaria control and elimination, and to join in the announcement that 35 provinces in Thailand have achieved malaria elimination.
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Last updated: July 19, 2018
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