Foreign Policy Blogs

Haiti Still Waiting for U.S. Aid

Read the article here.

The majority of U.S. aid is being held up in Congress by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).

The AP found that $874 million of the funds pledged by other countries at the donors conference was money already promised to Haiti for work or aid before the quake. An additional $1.13 million wasn’t ever going to be sent; it was debt relief. And $184 million was in loans to Haiti’s government, not aid.

Is this surprising to you? What do you think the long-run consequences will be?

For another viewpoint, read this column by Dr. Dennis Rosen who traveled to Haiti with a team from Children’s Hospital Boston.

 

Author

Keena Seyfarth

Keena Seyfarth is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, getting a combination Masters degree in International Health and Humanitarian Assistance at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and International Development and International Economics at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. She has lived much of her life in rural Africa, and traveled extensively through southern and eastern Africa. She recently returned from six months in Ethiopia, where she worked for the public hospital system.