Bill Gates was right to defend USAID amid Elon Musk’s attacks—take it from someone who experienced its impact

In 1961, US President John F. established. Kennedy, a new federal agency, United States International Development Agency (USAID). Its purpose was to “provide assistance to countries that recover from disasters, try to escape poverty, and engage in democracy reforms.” Of more than 100 countries, the US Agency for International Development has helped all over the world over the next 64 years, it was the Philippines.

Last week, the United States Agency for International Development officially stopped operations. Only the previous day, the distinguished British medical magazine The Lancet has published a warning of studies on the possible consequences of the horizon. The study found that the elimination of the United States Agency for International Development can contribute to 14 million additional deaths over the next five years. The researchers described the influence of some countries as “similar in a wide range of a global epidemic or a major armed conflict”, based on “the choice of conscious policy and can be avoided.”

I was born in the Philippines, one day, a US colony, shortly after World War II. But even from afar, I always felt close to the United States. So in 1977, I decided to follow my ambitions – and a master’s degree – in America. On the day I swore to loyalty to the Federal Court of Manhattan and became an American citizen, it will always be the first rank among the most important in my life.

At that time, I had no idea about how much he was accomplished at the US International Development Agency in the Philippines, much less than I would participate personally in it.

The battle over the United States Agency for International Development

In February, President Donald Trump announced that the United States Agency for International Development “is not completely explained … closed.” He claimed that the agency was run by the “Radical Left Lane”. The CEO of Tesla, CEO of Tesla – was directed by Trump to head the newly promoted government efficiency Ministry and reduce federal fraud, waste, and abuse – formerly, called “beyond reform”, “corrupt”, and a “criminal organization”. “It is time to die,” Mousse posted on X.

In a short time, the founder of Microsoft and Al -Mohsin Bill Gates intervened and met President Trump at the White House to defend funding represented in support for the US International Development Agency. Gates has described the American Agency for International Development as “the best” for all development agencies worldwide. In May, Musk was accused of “killing the poorest children of the world.” But by that time, the template was thrown as Trump classified the budget and the employees’ discounts that were already exposed to the United States Agency for International Development as “destroyed”.

However, other prominent opponents ascended the controversial cuts to the breach. At a video conference, they generated the United States Agency for International Development around the world in late June, and presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, along with the U2 Bono singer, gave a farewell to the agency. Obama said: “Overcoming the US Agency for International Development is a farce, it is a tragedy.” “Is it our national interest that 25 million people were now going on? I think it is, and so are you.”

Achievements of the United States Agency for International Development

As she has learned, since its return in 2000 to live in the Philippines, I have learned any Yeoman job at all. Food from American farmers feed hungry families and hunger refugees. Its employees distributed drugs to malaria, HIV and other infectious diseases that saved lives. Societies enabled the combating poverty and economic development in the process of establishing new consumer markets for American goods.

In the sixties of the last century with the countries that are still recovering from the scourge of World War II, the US Agency for International Development helped to establish national government agencies and educational institutions. Later, the United States Agency for International Development focused on strengthening democratic institutions.

In 2012, a new basic program for the American Agency for International Development for Tuberculosis has improved 92 % success rates.

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In my country, from 1995 to 2013, the US Agency for International Development trained 28,000 former fighters with skills and tools for land cultivation and gain a livelihood, helping to reintegrate these civilians into society, and raising the economy in the southern Philippines that are still torn by war.

Thanks to the hand of the American Agency for International Development, our maternal mortality rate was reduced over almost 23 years, from 209 per 100,000 live births in 1993 to 114 per 100,000 live births in 2015. More than 1.5 million Philippine benefited from support from the US International Development for Sustainable Management for Coastal Fisheries to stop excessive fishing and environmental decomposition.

But this hardly. The United States Agency for International Development has trained more than 19,000 Filipino teachers in English, mathematics and science. As a result, the percentage of students at sites with the help of the United States Agency for International Development who met national standards to read fluency and almost understanding quadruple, from 20 % in 2013 to 76 % in 2016.

In the aftermath of the destroyed Hurricane Haiyan in 2013, one of the largest landsmarks, and the schools that were rebuilt by the US International Development Agency, health clinics, and water systems and helped survivors to rehabilitate their stores and companies. Recently, it has begun in programs that have strengthened city economies outside Manila to enhance sustainable growth.

Today, the Filipino economy ranks thirty -third in the world in GDP – and the largest in Asia, according to the International Monetary Fund. This year, the World Bank said, “Its economic dynamism reflects the increase in urbanization, the large population and the youth, and the strong demand for consumers, with the support of the vibrant labor market and strong transfers, which sparked the most weak income.” The case can be presented that the US Agency for International Development and Volunteering on the ground contributed greatly to the current social and economic status of the Philippines.

As head of the Disaster Management Organization in the private sector, it has cooperated with the United States Agency for International Development in many projects over the past ten years. Together, societies and municipalities helped us prepare for disasters, enabled the Ministry of Energy to upgrade the energy sector during repeated storms, enhance the flexibility of the main provinces, and directed the Civil Defense Office in partnership with private companies to supply relief to the disaster areas.

I also had the opportunity to go alongside the United States Agency for International Development as a leadership to start starting the startup. We have joined the forces on the Stride program, which has strengthened entrepreneurship and innovation.

From the American people “

The result is that the American Agency for International Development is embodied for us the best ideals in America, as it has created a goodwill among our countries. More touch, this helped most at risk, all while building demand for American knowledge and products.

All these programs suddenly ended this year, and almost every person I knew at the United States Agency for International Development is packed and went home. About 1,600 employees of the United States Agency for International Development, as a first step in a “power reduction”, have been placed on an “administrative leave worldwide”.

Last month, Marikai Carlson, the American ambassador to the Philippines, dropped the curtain on this long -term artery between the two countries. A farewell party hosted at her residence with members of the US Agency for International Development to celebrate the partnership. I attended what I felt less than divorce from waking up.

After the party and all its sermons, one of them gave me a bag full of the role of the American Agency for International Development in the Philippines – pen, mug, calendar, a book that has acquired many of its accomplishments, all listed in the U.S. International Development Agency slogan, “from the American people.” While she went out on the wet tropical night, she grabbed the bag with a narrow grip, I feel the utmost gratitude of America and all Americans.

Even in the face of this disappointment, as a person with a dual perspective that has spanned his life in both countries, I still hope that the United States and the Philippines will remain about the friendly – and more touch, that the US State Department will resume the Crusader Crusader campaign for the US International Development Agency.

In a letter to congress on external aid, President Kennedy said, “We not only have obligations to fulfill, we have great opportunities to achieve.” After months, when the American Agency for International Development launched these words with a message we will do well today. He said: “People who oppose help should realize that this is a very strong source of strength for us … It allows us to exercise the influence on preserving freedom … because we do not want to send American forces to many areas, we send you.”

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