GAC welcomes new USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah
January 7, 2010 - The day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on the importance and future of the U.S. development agenda, she swore in the new USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. Global Action for Children Executive Director Kathleen Guy released the following statement welcoming Dr. Shah to the critical post:
"It was a long time coming, but we finally have a new Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. On behalf of the world’s children whose lives are lifted up by USAID, we look forward to working with the revitalized agency to support every child we can worldwide.
"Investing in a child’s future is not only the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do, too. Children are the cornerstone upon which communities devastated by poverty and disease can rebuild. That’s why a strong U.S. foreign investment in a child’s healthcare, nutrition, education and protection is the smartest thing we can do to foster the future stability and growth of these communities.
"USAID has a momentous opportunity to reshape the future growth of our global community and GAC aims to help the agency seize the new day as best we can. One of our top priorities we believe Dr. Shah can champion with his medical background is to reach every child with lifesaving vaccines. Because of our investment in vaccines for children, 2.5 million kids last year were kept alive. That’s almost five children every minute. If we amp up our investments and achieve our goal for children and vaccines, then we can give four more kids each minute the chance to grow up healthy, go to school and be a part of our world."
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Global Action for Children generates awareness, policies and funding so every child has the chance to grow up safe, healthy and ready to thrive. We work with policymakers, journalists and people who care to ensure orphans and vulnerable children have the support they need to go to school, get their vaccinations and be protected. GAC was formed in 2003 and is based in Washington, DC. Start little. Grow big.TM
