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US should focus foreign aid on food, health and water
The United States should use its scientific capabilities and wealth to strengthen global health systems and increase local capacities for food production and water stewardship, says Thomas R. Pickering, former US ambassador to the UN.
To alleviate world poverty and recover from the financial crisis, the world must recognize that economic growth and development are driven by issues of food, water and health, argues Pickering. And these issues are interconnected. Health, for example, is linked to nutrition and so, to agriculture, and both are affected by changes in water supplies.
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The United States can help — and has helped in some areas such as HIV/AIDS. But, argues Pickering, US foreign aid has generally lagged in food, health and water, with funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently dropping from US$8 billion to US$6 billion per year.
