Monday morning Secretary Clinton spoke at my school about the future of U.S. global health aid.
I got to school four hours before she was due to speak, and had to stand outside in the blazing sun for two hours before I was even let inside the building. It’s a bit unnerving to see your school suddenly filled with security and bomb-sniffing dogs, but at least their comings and goings gave us something to look at while we waited. I was standing with a friend of mine who is also a second-year with a lot of experience in Africa. We traded stories while we stood there, mostly related to ridiculous travel adventures in Senegal and Uganda (WHY does every bus driver in Africa insist on playing Akon over and over again!?).
My friend was saying how strange it was that she had no problem taking a 14-hour bus ride across Senegal but got annoyed when it took two hours to go through a metal detector in the U.S. (an excellent point). If I had been in Botswana or Ethiopia, I would have just leaned against the wall in the classic African waiting stance and watched the world go by until I was let inside the building, several hours later and totally off schedule. As it was I used the time to finish my economics homework, which on the scale of “how I like to spend my time” I’d rank significantly lower than watching chickens and goats fight over garbage in Addis.
Once inside, we scored some great seats near the front and started to play “name that dignitary” as the obviously important people began trickling in. It turns out that knowing a lot about someone’s aid policies doesn’t mean you can pick them out of a line-up: I failed to recognize Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Jack Lew (significant because he has recently been nominated to head the OMB, which controls our foreign aid budget), Dr. Eric Goosby, the head of PEPFAR, and Dr. Thomas Friedman, the head of the CDC. (Secretary Clinton gestured into the audience whenever she mentioned the latter two, so I assume they were there.)
But I did recognize Rajiv Shah, the Director of USAID, who arrived with a large retinue, and the former President of Botswana Festus Mogae, who arrived early and spoke to almost no one. I am sure I was the only person to recognize President Mogae, but I was excited to see him.
When she finally arrived, resplendent in a bright mango pantsuit, Secretary Clinton gave a truly amazing speech, the transcript of which you can read here.
The speech was an introduction to the Obama Administration’s Global Health Initiative, representing the next chapter in U.S. development assistance. She highlighted the need to build the domestic capabilities of recipient nations, so health care outlets can adopt a more comprehensive approach to medical care, rather than being divided between clinics for HIV/AIDS, maternal care, etc. She called for further coordination between donor agencies within the U.S. (like PEPFAR, USAID and the CDC) and without, including organization like the Global Fund and the Gates Foundation. She also stressed the need for recipient governments to match this new level of commitment and make comprehensive health care a national priority. She cited particularly cases where foreign aid for health supplants funding meant for health care in recipient country budgets, freeing up more funds that can be spent on something like the military rather than additional health improvements. The Global Health Initiative is going to represent a significant increase in U.S. aid overseas, and I strongly suggest you watch the video of her speech here.
I thought it was a great speech. On a personal note it completely validated my choice of graduate degrees, which is a combination between international development, international economics, and global health. It’s nice to know there’s a job market for people like me!
