I was introduced to the concept of public health in the early 90s when a childhood friend lived with AIDS, and I took courses to find out more. My eyes have been opened on how public health can transform communities and countries.
For over 25 years, I have been working to support foreign aid in the United States in global public health – more recently for DAI, one of the largest entrepreneurs in USAID. Thanks to my work, I saw in the first hand how the American foreign aid transformed lives abroad while making our nation safer and stronger at home.
Now USAID is in a transitional moment; The next step remains to be seen. Due to the judgments of the current administration on foreign assistance, our work at DAI has been interrupted. I am currently on leaveAs well as my whole team and hundreds of colleagues, with very little notice. I lost my pay check on January 31 and my health insurance on March 31. USAID A Officially canceled the life backup programs I have already worked with – promote monitoring of infectious diseases, coordinate responses to pandemic threats across countries and ensure that vital drugs reach communities that desperately need it.
The approach of this administration towards the USAID is not only worrying – it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what the American soft power realizes in the world.
By helping other countries, we make the United States safer
USAID, the government agency which provides foreign assistance, was promulgated in 1961 as part of JFK – at the time, to counter The image of the American ugly And help the world teach Americans more. During the decades that followed, the agency collected strong bipartite support; Democratic and Republican presidents have understood that American flows of influence not only Our soldiers could But of our ability to establish partnerships based on mutual benefits and respect.
Thanks to my work, I coordinated the US Department of Defense to increase access to HIV testing tests and treatment in Botswana, with American funding and Botswana. I sat with women in Afghanistan – where women cannot be treated by male doctors – who have received vital health care because USAID has invested in the training of health women. I looked at the governments of the Northern States of Nigeria, in the territories threatened by Boko Haram, to allocate their own resources to complete American investments in young programs.
These are not abstract political successes; These are human stories of life improved abroad that create allies and directly improve American security. When young people and local governments in volatile regions trust the United States instead of terrorist organizations, we all sleep more security. When health systems in developing countries can detect and contain epidemics of diseases, we prevent pandemies to reach our banks. It is not a charity; It is strategic foresight.
Here in North Carolina, the impacts struck near their home.
Our state receives the fourth allocation of USAID funds on a national scale, creating thousands of jobs for North Carolinians. I went to meetings of the municipal council through the triangle; People are frustrated. I also talked to scientists and farmers who are concerned about what the cuts will mean for agriculture in North Carolina, because USAID supports vital research that benefits us as citizens of other countries.
Before the USAID dismantlingThe republican administration promised a 90 -day examination of foreign aid – a process that I and my colleagues welcomed. We were ready to participate in a thoughtful discussion on reform and strengthening foreign aid. We started to see how our programs aligned themselves with priorities 2025 project and the America First Foreign Policy Agenda. We had meetings on each project and writes information sheets on how the work in which USAID was invested in America America more prosperous, secure and safe.
We only received a request from this information until weeks after hasty judgments had already been made – on the basis of the examples of cherry and often refuted which ignite rather than inform. I have never met programs resembling those described in late evening tweets and campaign rallies. What I saw is a vital nutritional support for women and children in Zambia – a country rich in critical minerals – suddenly arrested. While we are withdrawing, China and Russia are impatiently involvedexpanding their influence in regions of strategic importance for America.
We must restore what works – and repair what does not
My concern extends far beyond my personal pay check – which really concerns me is that when we, the Americans, abandon the field of soft power, we give in to the ground competitors and adversaries.
America must restore what works in foreign assistance while carefully reforming what does not do so: we must collaborate better in the sectors, we must learn more quickly, and we must rationalize the bureaucracy to facilitate local partners and not only American companies to implement this work. When countries have the capacity to budget and generate income to pay their essential services, they are better and less dependent on foreign aid.
We have to stop the inflammatory rhetoric that mischievous Work dedicated by thousands of Americans and their international partners. We need our leaders to protect the North Carolina jobs, the American soft power and the security interests of our country by supporting effective foreign assistance.
I have spent 25 years looking at American taxes to create training effects for positive changes around the world. With curiosity rather than judgment, we can make sure that these investments continue to make America – and the world – safer and stronger.
Kirsten Weeks is a world leader in health with more than 25 years of experience.