This is a joint op-ed co-authored by the U.S. Ambassadors and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. to Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe.
The story of the United States of America is the story of its workers, whose enduring contributions we recognize annually on the first Monday of September. Throughout our history, the American worker has labored not only to erect buildings and cities but also to raise the standards of workers worldwide. Through protests and picket lines, by organizing and raising their voices together, workers have won small and large victories that have pushed the United States closer to ensuring safer and healthier workplaces for all.
The Biden-Harris Administration supports labor rights at home and abroad, including the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the abolition of forced labor and child labor, acceptable conditions at work, and freedom from discrimination. The administration’s foreign policy promotes broad-based, equitable growth where all workers can work safely, assemble freely, and earn a fair wage. Labor policy is key to implementing our shared vision of a democratic and prosperous Southern Africa centered on a growing middle class. And workers and trade unions are critical pillars to making this happen.
The Biden-Harris Administration believes that unions across the Southern African region play a significant role in addressing income inequality and creating a more equitable and democratic economy – key ingredients to establishing the cornerstones of middle-class security. When unionized workers are compared with their nonunionized counterparts, studies show that union wages are usually significantly higher. Union participation has also been shown to help address the gender pay gap: Hourly wages for women represented by unions are significantly higher than for nonunionized women.
The United States bolsters workers' rights across the region through technical assistance. In Lesotho, for example, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Better Work project partnered with export apparel factories, trade unions, the government and others to boost factories’ compliance with labor law. For workers, this meant better compensation and improvements in contracts, occupational safety and health and work hours.
Through its worker-centered trade policy, the Biden-Harris Administration seeks to promote equitable growth and shared prosperity to all workers and communities in Africa. It also supports worker rights through U.S. trade preference programs, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. That is, for countries to remain eligible for the benefits of the AGOA and GSP program, they must meet criteria on internationally recognized worker rights. Through AGOA engagement, the U.S. government has worked with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prompt action tackling a variety of labor issues, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, trafficking in persons, and capacity-building of the labor inspectorate. This contributed towards the DRC’s ultimate reinstatement into the AGOA preference program in 2021, and the U.S. Department of Labor will soon be launching a technical assistance project in the DRC to further support progress on international labor standards.
African laborers form the backbone of the Southern African economy and for far too long African women have worked in environments that failed to protect them from harassment and violence.
They deserve a better economic present and future that is free of violence and harassment. We stand in solidarity with the many trade unions and worker associations in their call for action on this issue, taking into account the provisions of ILO Convention C. 190.
As the United States works with its African partners to stand up for workers, we are especially committed to protecting the most vulnerable workers, including child laborers. Every year the U.S. Department of Labor issues its Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor report, which highlights key child labor challenges in countries around the world, including our partners in Southern Africa. The report also spotlights efforts these countries are undertaking to eliminate child labor through legal protections, enforcement, policies, and social programs and makes recommendation for further action. Namibia, for one, saw significant advancement in the 2019 report, including its enactment of the Child Care and Protection Act.
We also provide technical assistance to support our African partners in their efforts to combat child labor. In Zambia, for example, the U.S. Department of Labor’s EMPOWER program provided entrepreneurship and leadership training to more than 1,400 adolescent girls at risk for child labor, many of whom went on to start their own businesses, generating income and avoiding child labor.
And in Madagascar, the U.S. Department of Labor is providing funding to reduce child labor in mica-producing communities, including support to increase the capacity of government officials to address child labor in the mica supply chain. Additionally, partnerships between USAID Madagascar and U.S. and local businesses in vanilla, cocoa, and aquaculture that are focused on improving livelihoods and conserving biodiversity, have clauses banning child labor and monitoring systems to ensure the ban is enforced throughout the supply chain.
Our commitment to the world’s children stems from our belief that all children should have the opportunity to grow and learn and that economies are stronger when labor rights and human rights are protected. We recognize the important contributions governments, companies, unions, and civil society have made to eliminating all forms of child labor and look forward to strengthening our partnerships across the region to ensure that child labor is eradicated.
The U.S. similarly protects additional vulnerable worker populations through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Global Labor Program (GLP). In South Africa, for example, USAID through GLP supports farm workers, domestic workers, and migrant workers to overcome long-standing exclusion from core labor rights and protections, while building the capacity of committed representatives of these populations to become union leaders.
Nowhere is the spirit of partnership between our countries stronger than in our joint efforts to combat COVID-19. Since the pandemic’s outbreak, the United States has worked hand-in-hand with health professionals across the region to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19. We’ve contributed approximately $125 million USD in COVID-19 specific funding and have provided almost 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the 12 countries where we serve as representatives of the United States, which has helped to ensure vulnerable workers are protected and can do their jobs safely. This is in addition to our 4 billion USD contribution to Gavi in support of COVAX.
Even in the United States we still have work to do. The dreams and goals of our current labor movement remain unfinished and unrealized by many. As much as we hope to impart, we also have even more to learn and gain from our partners. We understand that while workers across the region may share similar challenges, the African continent’s narrative is multidimensional and diverse.
U.S. engagement in the region is based on a shared hope and belief that the prosperity narrative led by African workers is one we can build together by building a partnership of equals. When African workers can work in greater prosperity, harmony, freedom, and dignity, the United States and the world is better off.
Source: Press Release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo
ANTANANARIVO – The U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Rural Access to New Opportunities in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (RANO WASH) project, has donated equipment and supplies to the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene to support Madagascar’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
USAID provided the ministry with 60 disinfectant sprayers, 400 handwashing devices, 34 cartons of soap, and 60 twenty-liter containers. These supplies will be used to improve sanitation and hygiene in six regions of the country - Alaotra Mangoro, Amoron'i Mania, Atsinanana, Haute Matsiatra, Vakinankaratra, and Vatovavy Fitovinany.
This support is part of a series of donations in response to COVID-19 from USAID to the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene through the RANO WASH project, and is the latest iteration of the U.S. government’s ongoing collaboration with the Government of Madagascar. The two countries are working together like “mpirahalahy mianala” to ensure the health and protection of the Malagasy people from COVID-19.
To end the global pandemic, the United States is taking bold action, as the largest contributor to COVAX and by committing billions of dollars to more than 120 countries. In Madagascar alone, the United States recently donated 302,750 Johnson and Johnson vaccine doses in addition to our ongoing support for the shipment of COVAX vaccines, donated “head-to-toe” personal protective equipment to front line health care workers in 13 regions of Madagascar hard hit by COVID-19, contributed $5 million to the Tosika Fameno cash transfer program that ensured vulnerable families in the most affected cities had enough to eat, and provided $2.5 million in emergency funding to support the Government of Madagascar’s COVID-19 response.
Speaking on the occasion, Voahary Rakotovelomanantsoa, Minister of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, stated that the materials would be critical in limiting COVID-19 cases. RANO WASH is USAID’s largest water and sanitation project in Madagascar. Over a five-year period, USAID is investing $30 million to improve access to water for hundreds of thousands of people in 250 rural communes in six regions of Madagascar that face chronic shortages of drinking water. In 2020, USAID’s assistance to Madagascar totaled $133.5 million, including $74.5 million for the health sector, where the United States is the largest single-country donor.
Source: Press Release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo - USAID Madagascar
During the U.S. – Africa Business Summit, USAID Administrator Samantha Power gave an overview of the U.S.’ relationship with Africa over the last 60 years since the USAID was born and defined new directions moving forward.
Samantha Power recalled the assistance the U.S. is providing for its partner countries in key sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and energy and the significant impact of its support on the lives of many people worldwide. Moving forward, the relationship between the U.S. and Africa mostly based on aid must evolve into a cooperation, with more sustainable impact, fuelled by trade.
The Biden-Harris Administration launched during the Summit the Prosper Africa Build Together Campaign to “elevate our commitment to two-way trade and investment between African nations and the United States,” Samantha Power said.
While acknowledging the role of public investment in developing countries, she claimed that the private sector is the key driver to Africa’s long-term economic growth and prosperity.
“Through Prosper Africa, USAID will directly connect American investors with African businesses ripe for investment by funding delegations and making crucial connections to local actors, leveraging our long-standing relationships on the continent. This work will help American businesses access Africa’s fast-growing markets and create thousands of jobs for both African and American workers.” – Samantha Power explained.
The United States will use U.S. pension funds to increase high-yield return-generating investment in Africa. Samantha Power quoted Angela Miller-May, chief investment officer of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund: “Before my first delegation... my understanding of Africa was based on what I had seen on TV or read in the news, and I perceived Africa as a place of risk. But all of those perceptions quickly went out the door: I saw that Africa was filled with opportunities. The discussions [I had]...shortened the distance between the U.S. and Africa for me.”
After her trips in Africa, Angela made a $20-million investment in African companies involved in healthcare, education, technology, and other vital sectors of the economy. It is in this selfsame spirit that Prosper Africa, through its Build Together Campaign, will continue to “shorten the distance” between U.S. investors and African businesses.
A new trade and investment strategy – beneficial to both sides – will be implemented in accordance with American values rooted in mutual respect, national sovereignty, democratic governance, and individual dignity. “Less aid, more trade!”
Source: Africa Media Hub
ANTANANARIVO – The U.S. government donated 302,750 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to Madagascar as part of the Administration’s global effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccines are part of the U.S. pledge to provide at least 25 million of 80 million doses globally to Africa. The U.S. government coordinated closely with the African Union, Africa CDC, and COVAX on the country allocations. COVAX supported delivery of these vaccine doses, which arrived in Antananarivo on July 27, 2021.
“Sharing these vaccines will not only help protect the Malagasy people from COVID-19, but also begin reducing barriers to building back the Malagasy economy,” Amy Hyatt, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the Republic of Madagascar and the Union of the Comoros, said.
These 302,750 doses are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to share U.S. vaccine supply with the world. As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic at home and work to end the pandemic worldwide, President Biden has promised that the United States will be an arsenal of vaccines for the world.
“From the beginning of my presidency, we have been clear-eyed that we need to attack this virus globally as well. This is about our responsibility — our humanitarian obligation to save as many lives as we can — and our responsibility to our values. We’re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic, working alongside our global partners,” President Biden said.
Throughout the pandemic, the United States has worked closely with the Government of Madagascar to protect public health and strengthen the response to COVID-19. The United States has provided $2.5 million in emergency funding to support the Government of Madagascar’s COVID-19 response, supported the delivery and rollout of vaccines, and contributed $5 million to the Tosika Fameno cash transfer program to ensure vulnerable families in the most affected cities had enough to eat.
Press Release by the U.S. Embassy Antananarivo
Sports can divide. Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees, the New Zealand All Blacks versus the South Africa Springboks, or Manchester United versus Liverpool – all passionate sports rivalries with the capacity to turn friend into foe at the mere mention of the “wrong” team. But sports can also unite. At the U.S. Department of State, we harness the near universal passion for sports as a way to transcend differences in language, culture, and socioeconomic status and bring people together.
Through our Sports Envoys program, we call upon a cadre of U.S. professional and collegiate athletes and coaches to travel around the world to lead programs developed in partnership with U.S. embassies and consulates. We send non-elite athletes and coaches to the United States for two-week exchanges through our Sports Visitors program. And we use sports to help underserved youth around the world develop leadership skills and achieve academic success through our International Sports Programming Initiative.
We recognize the power of sports on an international stage. We are pleased to see that the National Basketball Association (NBA) does as well.
The NBA is a professional basketball league established in the United States in 1949 after the merger of the National Basketball League and the American Basketball Association. At the time of the NBA’s founding, all of its players came from within the United States. Now, more than a quarter of its players come from outside the United States.
As the number of international players has increased, so have the NBA’s efforts to reach beyond the United States.Through its social responsibility program, NBA Cares, the league operates a basketball development and community outreach program called Basketball without Borders and brings U.S. competition to international audiences through NBA Global Games. More recently, the NBA has launched two programs right here in Madagascar: Jr. NBA and the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Jr. NBA is the league’s youth program, which seeks to “develop a lifelong passion for the game in boys and girls...while instilling core values including teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship.” (Source: https://jr.nba.com/jr-nba-faq/). The Jr. NBA boasts more than a dozen international programs in sub-Saharan Africa, including one right here in Madagascar.
In November 2019, NBA officials, alongside U.S. Ambassador Michael Pelletier and Malagasy Minister of Sport and Youth Tinoka Raharoarilala, launched Jr. NBA Madagascar in collaboration with the Malagasy Basketball Federation. Jr. NBA Madagascar brought together 30 boys’ teams and 20 girls’ teams from public and private high schools alike for four months of basketball training and competition. Players ranged in age from 13 – 16 years-old. The global COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately cut the competition short, but the plan is to continue the program for at least another three years.
The Jr. NBA program brought together 30 boys’ teams and 20 girls’ teams from schools across the capital region including (at left) a game between CEG Andoharanofotsy and Mary Mpanampy and (at right) @Miora Reazhel for Sekolintsika Analamahintsy.
Led by Tsimbina Andrianaivo, an alumnus of U.S. universities Waldorf College and Hamline University, Jr. NBA Madagascar also made an important decision to not only focus on sports education, but to also integrate the innovative More Than Basketball curriculum, which includes English language, life skills, and leadership training into Jr. NBA Madagascar’s program.
This May, the NBA also partnered with the International Basketball Federation to debut BAL, the NBA’s first collaborative effort to operate a professional basketball league outside of North America. Madagascar’s own Gendarmerie Nationale Basket Club (GNBC) was one of only 12 teams from across the African continent to qualify to compete in the inaugural BAL championship tournament by winning its region in the Road to BAL qualifying rounds. Formed in 2012, GNBC was the youngest of all the teams competing in the BAL championship. Ultimately, Egypt’s Zamalek took the crown as BAL’s first-ever champions, while GNBC ended the tournament fourth in its group. The Road to BAL 2022 has already begun, and a Malagasy team has again earned a spot. The ASCUT (Association Sportive de la Commune Urbaine de Toamasina) basketball club qualified to represent Madagascar in the second Road to BAL qualifying tournament by winning national and regional competitions. The Road to BAL will culminate next year in the 2022 BAL final championship tournament of twelve teams. Good luck ASCUT!
Linkages between the Madagascar and the NBA could strengthen even further on July 29 when Malagasy player Sitraka Raharimanantoanina participates alongside 353 other players from all over the world in the 2021 NBA draft, potentially leading to him joining the roster of an NBA team.
All of these initiatives should give Malagasy sports fans pride in the fact that the NBA sees Madagascar’s basketball potential and is investing its resources here in Malagasy basketball and Malagasy youth. They also point to exciting possibilities for leveraging sport’s unifying power to build stronger bonds of friendship, teamwork, and mutual understanding between the United States and Madagascar.
By Tsimbina Andrianaivo, National Coordinator, Jr. NBA and Ryan Bradeen, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy in Madagascar and Comoros
A new project on infectious diseases strengthens public health diagnosis and surveillance and builds the capacity of local laboratories.
ANTANANARIVO – The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance (IDDS) project, is helping Madagascar fight COVID-19 and other infectious diseases through the donation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing equipment to the PZaGa public laboratory at Mahajanga Hospital in northwestern Madagascar.
“PCR testing is a fast and inexpensive method to test for infectious diseases and an important way to identify diseases that threaten public health. Clearly, this is much needed as we seek to control the COVID-19 pandemic,” said USAID Health Office Director Sophia Brewer.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, the IDDS project has trained local laboratory staff on the proper use of PCR equipment and other tests for infectious diseases, including correct sampling methods and safe handling, storage, and transportation of specimens.
In June, USAID’s IDDS project donated two new sterilization machines (or autoclaves), worth a total of more than $4,000, to two hospitals in Antananarivo. Autoclaves kill pathogens, decontaminate materials, and ensure the safety of laboratory technicians at these facilities. These donations support the IDDS project’s objective to improve Madagascar’s ability to identify and track disease outbreaks. “Our goal is to help the Ministry of Public Health improve their monitoring and diagnostic system so that they have reliable data to inform decisions,” stated IDDS Country Director Dr. Herindrainy Perlinot.
IDDS is a five-year USAID-funded project that is strengthening public health diagnostic networks and surveillance systems to effectively detect and monitor outbreaks of infectious diseases in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia, including Madagascar.
This is the latest example of how the U.S. and Madagascar governments are like “mpirahalahy mianala” in preventing, identifying, and containing infectious disease outbreaks in Madagascar. Through USAID, the U.S. Government has been a leading partner to Madagascar, standing side-by- side in responding to outbreaks of plague, measles, malaria, and COVID-19. USAID also lent extensive support to the Ministry of Public Health’s recent national polio vaccination campaign. In February 2021, USAID also donated a GeneXpert machine to the Ministry of Public Health, which provides COVID-19 diagnostic test results within 45 minutes.
Last year, USAID assistance to Madagascar totaled $133.5 million. The U.S. Government is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $74.5 million in 2020 alone to fund USAID’s health projects. These projects reduce Madagascar's maternal and child mortality, provide access to potable water and sanitation, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of vital health care provisions and medications, and reinforce the national community health policy.
Source: USAID Madagascar - U.S. Embassy Madagascar
His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Madagascar.
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the U.S. Embassy in Madagascar and Comoros’ celebration of the 245th anniversary of the independence of the United States. July 4th is a joyful time in the United States. It is a time of patriotic pride, but also a time of picnics, barbecues, parades, and fireworks. Most of all, it is an opportunity for friends and families to be together and reflect on the ties that unite us as a nation. For a second year running, the world is confronting the devastating effects of a global pandemic that continues to disrupt people’s lives, our economies, and our sense of well-being. Though Covid may interrupt many of our time-honored traditions, we can still join together virtually and celebrate the world’s longest-standing democracy and Madagascar’s recently celebrated 61st birthday.
I arrived in this wonderful country in the midst of the first wave of the pandemic. As the pandemic recedes, I look forward to discovering the natural beauty and amazing biodiversity that makes Madagascar unique. But I also look forward to getting to know the Malagasy people better and to experiencing Madagascar’s culture and traditions.
As we celebrate July 4th, I want to take a moment to remember all those we have lost in the last 18 months. This pandemic has deprived our communities of the wisdom of our elders and the energy of those who departed before their time. They are irreplaceable and we must bear the burden of their loss. But we must also continue to move ahead.
Moreover, how can we thank our first responders enough? Whether in Madagascar the United States, or elsewhere, doctors, nurses, paramedics, and all the front-line health care workers have shown us the meaning of selflessness, dedication, and devotion to duty.
All this, while risking infection and the fear of separation from their own families. They are the heroes of our time and I salute them. While this pandemic has interrupted our day-to-day lives, we must also acknowledge that it has upended economic prospects everywhere.
Here in Madagascar, the United States is uniquely placed to assist during this time of need. Our humanitarian and development assistance through USAID totaled one hundred and thirty-three and a half million dollars in 2020 alone and supports several critical sectors. The United States is the largest bilateral donor in Madagascar’s health sector, providing seventy-four and a half million dollars in 2020.
Our health projects help reduce maternal and child mortality, provide access to safe water, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of medications, and reinforce the national community health policy. U.S. assistance has been critical in national efforts to address health crises such as plague, measles, malaria, and COVID-19.
In 2020, the U.S. government provided two and a half million dollars in additional funding for specific COVID-19 interventions such as disease surveillance, public health education, and ensuring the supply of essential medical provisions.
The U.S. government also contributed five million dollars to the Tosika Fameno cash transfer program to ensure vulnerable families had enough to eat. I would like to note, as well that the United States is the biggest donor to COVAX, which just delivered two hundred and fifty thousand doses of the vaccine to Madagascar.
Last year, we provided forty-eight and a half million dollars in emergency food aid and assistance to the south. We recognize that extreme drought has pushed many communities in southern Madagascar to the brink. In response, we have provided emergency food assistance for hundreds of thousands of people and treatment for sixty-four thousand children suffering from malnutrition.
Working side-by-side with the Government of Madagascar like “mpirahalahy mianala,” USAID is also implementing projects totaling one hundred and forty million dollars in support of the government’s strategy for overcoming the immediate food shortages in the south, while at the same time implementing long-term economic development to reduce the root causes of food insecurity.
Some of our best work is in helping communities help themselves. Whether it is helping farmers increase productivity with environmentally friendly techniques, or working with communities to rehabilitate wells, farm-to-market roads, and canals, our projects seek to build resilience and sustainable skills amongst the most vulnerable people. Likewise, our commitment to help preserve the environmental and ecological heritage of Madagascar puts local communities in the lead, so that they both manage and benefit from their own natural resources. Our goal is to create activities that are income generating, sustainable, bolster governance of natural resources, and stop international wildlife trafficking.
Our efforts in Madagascar extend well beyond aid and humanitarian assistance. We also work with the government, private sector, civil society, and others to promote good governance, to fight corruption, and to support fair and free elections. Human rights issues like child labor and human trafficking remain a top priority.
We look forward to more opportunities to advance commercial ties and economic development through our Embassy Deal Team, facilitating trade and investment in key sectors. We will continue to support the Malagasy government as it seeks to improve its maritime security and embrace its vast marine resources. We await the return of our Peace Corps volunteers, whose collaboration with Malagasy communities fosters peace and friendship between our two countries.
This year, we also celebrate the seventy fifth anniversary of the Fulbright program. Since 1946, Malagasy scholars who have studied in the United States under the Fulbright program have gone on to impressive careers in academia, government, civil society, and the private sector. They have also helped create mutual understanding between American and Malagasy societies.
In closing, as the world reaches for solutions to eventually eradicate the COVID-19 virus, as improved treatments and vaccinations give us hope of a return to normalcy, we must re-dedicate ourselves to helping those who are the most affected amongst us.
Businesses need help to recapture their lost clientele; students need help to catch up on missed educational opportunities; the poorest of the poor need help to find their feet again. This is true in the United States, in Madagascar, and in many other countries around the world.
While this last year has brought more than its share of challenges, let us remember the saying that it is darkest before the dawn. Our nations have lived through many periods of uncertainty before, and we have come through them with stronger spirits.
Together, we can achieve much more than we can accomplish on our own.
This unusual July 4th, let us pledge to work together to a better and brighter future. Mpirahalahy mianala isika; ianao tokiko, izaho tokinao!
Source: U.S. Embassy Madagascar
After five years of operation, the Mahefa Miaraka program has built a stronger community health system in rural regions
ANTANANARIVO – Today, USAID Mission Director John Dunlop and the Minister of Public Health Professeur Rakotovao Hanitrala Jean Louis marked the close of USAID’s five-year Community Capacity for Health Program during an online ceremony. Since 2016, the program, locally known as Mahefa Miaraka or 'Together we are capable' in the Malagasy language, has provided technical support to the Ministry of Public Health to implement the National Community Health Policy (PNSC) in seven regions – Analanjirofo, Boeny, DIANA, Melaky, Menabe, SAVA, and Sofia. While Mahefa Miaraka is closing, the legacy of its work and many of its initiatives will continue.
The U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funded Mahefa Miaraka with $31 million over five years to strengthen the planning, delivery, and management of community health services for the Malagasy people. The program put special emphasis on improving family planning, reducing the practice of open defecation, preventing child marriage, and delivering health and nutrition services for pregnant women, new mothers, and young children.
Major Achievements Under USAID’s Mahefa Miaraka Program:
The Mahefa Miaraka program was a collaborative effort between USAID and the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene and the Ministry of Population, Social Protection, and Women’s Promotion. JSI Research & Training Institute implemented Mahefa Miaraka in collaboration with Action Socio-sanitaire Organisation Secours (ASOS), Family Health International 360 (FHI 360), and Transaid.
This partnership is an excellent example of how the United States and Madagascar are working together like “mpirahalahy mianala” to improve and expand access to community health services. The U.S. government is the largest single-country donor to Madagascar's health sector, providing $72 million in 2020 alone to fund USAID’s health projects. These projects reduce Madagascar's maternal and child mortality, provide access to potable water and sanitation, protect communities from malaria, improve access to family planning, ensure a reliable supply chain of vital health care supplies and medication, and reinforce the national community health policy.
Sources: Press release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo - USAID Madagascar
ANTANANARIVO – The United States congratulates Madagascar on the successful arrival of 250,000 doses of the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine on May 8. This shipment was made possible through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The United States recently announced an initial $2 billion obligation — out of a total planned $4 billion — to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, making us the single largest contributor to global COVID-19 vaccine access. “I want to congratulate the Government of Madagascar for taking action to participate in COVAX and bring much needed vaccines to the Malagasy people,” U.S. Ambassador Michael Pelletier said. “The United States is proud to be the largest contributor to COVAX, helping to ensure the equitable delivery of safe and effective vaccines in Madagascar and around the globe.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that an infectious disease outbreak anywhere is a threat to people everywhere. It is a global problem that requires a global solution, and we are committed to collaborating with partners and governments to support global COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
The U.S. contributions to COVAX, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will support the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries. This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy. The United States will also continue to work with international donors to build further support for the COVAX Facility’s critical needs.
Throughout the pandemic, the United States has worked closely with the Government of Madagascar like “mpirahalahy mianala” to protect public health and strengthen the response to COVID-19. The United States has provided $2.5 million in emergency funding to support the Government of Madagascar’s COVID-19 response and repurposed $2.2 million worth of USAID health projects to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. This COVID response is just a part of U.S. government’s engagement in Madagascar’s health sector, where we are the largest single-country donor. In 2020 alone, the U.S. government provided $72 million to fund USAID’s health activities in Madagascar.
Source: U.S. Embassy Antananarivo / USAID Madagascar
The 59th quadrennial presidential election that was held on November 3 is a milestone in US history. The United States has entered a brand new era of political, economic and social changes with the arrival of the new President-elect Joe Biden alongside his teammate Kamala Harris, the elected Vice President.
After getting more than 270 Electoral College votes, Former vice president Joe Biden has won the presidency over incumbent President Donald Trump leading him to become the 46th US president. Joe Biden or Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942 in the Blue collar city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. At his age 78, he is considered as being the oldest president in US history. Although the newly-elected president was born in Pennsylvania, he spent a large majority of his early life in Delaware, area, where he attended the elite preparatory high school Archmere Academy, the University of Delaware where he graduated with a double major in history and political science and got a law degree from Syracuse University shortly after. These are two things people may ignore about Joe Biden, the first one is, he was once struggling with stutter or speech impediment but eventually overcame it. The second is, he excelled so much in sports. Prior to his race for the Presidency, he had already served for over 36 years as a senator making him Delaware’s long-serving US senator and then accepted to work side by side with Barack Obama to become the 47th US vice president.
For the first time in American history, the vice president position is portrayed by a female profile that was quite so long expected by many Americans, particularly, Black American women. Kamala Devi Harris, born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, is the first US female vice president with incredibly diverse race mixture ranging from African to Asian American. She is actually descended from a Jamaican-born father and an Indian mother. From her earliest age, the Harris dwelt with her mother and her sister in California, Berkeley, where she spent her entire life and dedicated it to studying law by attending Howard University and then the University of California’s Hastings College of the law. After she graduated, she was immediately offered a position at the state bar of California where she started to work as an attorney until she ended up with establishing the state’s first Bureau of Children’s Justice and emerged as state attorney general in 2010. In 2016, she won a seat in the US Senate which made her the second African-American woman and the first south Asian-American to hold such a position. Before Joe Biden chose her as his running mate, she had already planned to run for 2020 US presidential election.
They both will take office after official inauguration which is expected to take place on January 20, 2021.
Sources: The Washington post / History
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