USUN PRESS RELEASE #
91 (02)
July 2, 2002
Statement by Ambassador Sichan Siv, United States Representative to
the Economic and Social Council, at the High-Level Segment of ECOSOC
on “The Contribution of Human
Resources Development, including in the Areas of Health and Education,
to the Process of Development”, July 2, 2002
Thank
you, Mr. President:
I am
pleased to discuss a topic President Bush has made a central theme of
his administration at home and abroad.
He
believes that a nation’s ability to expand economic opportunity, as
well as contribute to the world economy, is founded on the health,
education, and training of its citizens. More importantly, he
understands that healthy, well-educated citizens are the mainstay of
democracy and the rule of law.
We call this “human resources
development.” But of course, we are referring to people -- girls and
boys, women and men, who have been properly nourished, immunized,
cared for, and educated. This is what President Bush means when he
uses the word “compassion.”
The United States therefore wants to
work with the world community to close the divide between nations
that are making progress and those that are not. Developed and
developing countries alike need to do more to nurture human capacity,
especially through basic education.
In order to enhance our own national
development, President Bush signed landmark legislation into law that
promotes educational excellence. The “No Child
Left Behind Act”
turns federal spending on schools into a federal investment in
improved student performance. It requires states to set high
standards of achievement and create a system of accountability to
measure results.
Similar
steps are called for in the developing world. It is crucial that even
poor countries ‑- perhaps I should say, especially poor
countries -- devote adequate budgetary resources to education. The
use of these financial resources then must be carefully monitored to
ensure that they translate into positive learning outcomes. Where
this is the case, we believe the
World Bank and other donors should be prepared to significantly
increase funding. The World Bank’s plan to "fast track" universal
primary completion in some ten countries is a welcome first step, as
long as these countries are selected on the basis of credible
performance and in coordination with other donors.
On June
20, President Bush announced a doubling of funds for the
African Education Initiative inaugurated last July. This will
bring total U.S. spending to $200 million over the next five years.
The African Education Initiative
·
will train 420,000 teachers;
·
provide more than 250,000 scholarships for African
girls;
·
partner with historically black colleges and
universities in the United States to provide 4.5 million textbooks for
children in Africa;
·
and increase the role of parents in their children’s
education by working to make school systems more transparent and open
to reforms.
The
United States is proud to join with African governments to give their
youth the advantages of literacy and learning. Education can
transform a society, particularly when girls and women are fully
included. Women who complete primary school are healthier than those
who do not; their children attain higher education levels; they
demonstrate higher agricultural, industrial, and domestic
productivity; and they participate more actively in the democratic
process.
A good
education is critical, but so is good health. A monumental obstacle to
Africa's development is HIV/AIDS.
Through
an
initiative announced by President Bush on June 19, the United
States plans to dedicate an additional $500 million to prevent
mother-to-child transmission of HIV in twelve African countries and
the Caribbean. This new initiative is focused in two areas:
-
increasing the availability of preventive care, including drug
treatments; and
-
building healthcare delivery systems to reach as many women as
possible.
We will
work with African governments to pair hospitals in Africa with those
in the United States. We will deploy volunteer medical professionals
to assist and train their African counterparts. And we will support
African efforts to recruit and pay African medical and graduate
students to provide testing and treatment and care. And as we see
what works, we will make more funding available.
This $500
million commitment is the largest initiative to prevent
mother-to-child transmission of HIV by any government in history. But
it does not replace anything else we are doing.
·
It will complement the nearly $1 billion the United
States will contribute this year to international efforts to combat
HIV/AIDS.
·
It will complement the $2.5 billion we plan to spend on
research and development of new drugs and treatments.
·
It will complement the $500 million the United States
has committed to the Global
Fund to fight AIDS and other infectious diseases.
Ladies
and gentlemen, these are some of the key policy initiatives upon which
President Bush has based his call for a new compact for global
development. Without basic education and health services, no nation
can prosper. But with basic education and health services, there is
no limit to what can be achieved.
That
said, let me underscore the point that these efforts must be
undertaken jointly. They must be defined by a new accountability for
both wealthy and poor nations alike. They must be grounded in the
reality that sound domestic policies, good governance, and the rule of
law are fundamental to development, because they create the essential
conditions for sustained economic growth and investment. As
Secretary O’Neill said to you yesterday, they must be implemented
without creating the next generation of highly indebted poor
countries. In his words, “The reality is that essential investments
in sectors such as education and healthcare cannot directly generate
the revenue to service new debt. These projects should be funded by
grants, not loans.”
Every index of social, economic and democratic
well-being will improve dramatically when we, the world’s governments,
hold ourselves accountable for the health and education of the young.
This is where development truly begins – in the
strong bodies and creative minds of our children.
Thank you very much.
