Friday, February 12, 2010

USAID Administrator Shah Blogs at HuffPo


The new USAID Administrator, Rajiv Shah has a maiden blog post in the Huffington Post today: One Month Later, Haiti's Humanitarian Crisis Remains (Posted: February 12, 2010 10:33 AM).  A curious thing though -- this post is up in the Huffington Post but not in DipNote when I last checked. Dr. Shah was sworn in as the 16th Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on December 31, 2009. In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, President Obama appointed Dr. Shah as coordinator of the government's relief efforts in Haiti. Excerpt below:


Despite the human challenges, we are working with the Haitian people and their leaders to focus on tomorrow, even as we face enormous challenges. Efficient operations at food distribution points are allowing us to feed more people on a regular basis, but still, too many go hungry. Together with our international partners, we are providing Haitians with the tools and materials to construct temporary shelters to protect them in the rainy season, but Haiti's already fragile natural environment is now even more vulnerable to the rains, floods and hurricanes. The ability to care for those recovering from injury is increasing, and monitoring for potential for outbreak of disease is constant; but even in the best of conditions, temporary settlements make the public health threat very real.
With this sense of urgency, the United States will continue to work tirelessly with Haiti and our international partners to identify where each country can best contribute, in order to to alleviate this humanitarian crisis and lay the foundation for future Haitian development that reduces the impact such disasters have on Haiti's population. American citizens echoed this commitment. Nearly half of all American families have donated to the Haiti relief effort through efforts such as the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund.

Read his whole post here.





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