Vol. 2 No. 1 Specials

The death toll in the wake of the tsunami has climbed steadily since December 26th, and the recent numbers of dead reported are as high as 220,000. In the past month images of huge waves and broken villages have flashed across our TV screens, while websites from Amazon.com to Banana Republic to the Bill Clinton Foundation have urged us to donate to relief efforts in the affected areas. Americans, with true generosity, have responded on an astounding and unprecedented scale, reaching into their holiday-strained bank accounts to contribute over $200 million to organizations such as Oxfam, Save the Children, and Catholic Relief Services. The American Red Cross alone has received nearly $194 million in donations, while UNICEF has acquired $50 million in aid from the U.S. government alone, which is about 41% of the latter’s annual donations. In addition, the U.S. government has pledged $350 million to relief and rehabilitation efforts, bringing the U.S. contribution to a total of $550 million. Germany, Australia, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund each donated even more. Countless lives will be salvaged.

These numbers suggest an America that is generous in its response to suffering, even from far across the globe. However, Americans are typically among the most tight-fisted of the international community. We allocate less foreign aid toward health and other development programs than many of the world’s other privileged countries. Yet the tsunami and its aftermath are a disaster, an emergency, a special event that rendered us more charitable.

Consider this. More people die each month from AIDS (240,000) than died due to the tsunami (220,000). Preventable and treatable diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia result in over 10 million deaths annually of children under five. The federal government has pledged to donate more money to tsunami relief efforts ($350 million) than it appropriates to address basic children’s health each year ($345 million). It is in dealing with these basic health services, which are now further marginalized in the aftermath of the tsunami, that America proves to be “stingy,” as one U.N. official accused.

According to the Commitment to Development Index, which ranks the top 21 rich countries in terms of development assistance, America gives just 13 cents daily per capita in aid to other countries in need (that is just a few cents more than one cup of Starbucks coffee per month). In comparison, Norway gives $1.02 per person a day. In fact, just 0.10% of the federal budget of the U.S. goes to development assistance (as a percentage of national GNP), while Sweden gives 0.81% and Denmark tops the list at 1.06%. Officially, the 30 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Growth and Development (OECD) recommended that each member country designate 0.70% of its GNP for development assistance. Thus, although the U.S. is a major donor to tsunami relief efforts, we are not doing our part regularly to support health programs in the developing world, compared with other wealthy nations.

Indeed, if America were to increase federal funding for basic children’s health and AIDS efforts, we could prevent what should be though of as a silent tsunami of people dying each month from preventable and treatable diseases. The health challenges that South Asia and other affected areas are facing in the aftermath of the tsunami are largely the same ones that all developing countries face every day: lack of safe drinking water, inadequate medicines and other supplies, and lack of access to basic health services. Because the international community has been quick to respond with money, health services, food, water, and shelter materials, major outbreaks of cholera, diarrhea, and malaria have been prevented. It becomes clear that the international community has the resources to handle such diseases. Although, it is less glamorous to build health infrastructure in developing countries without the spotlight of an international catastrophe It should not require a natural tragedy to garner the will to put the money to work. Let the moment of this tsunami, when the United States responded effectively to a health crisis, be a turning point where our country forms a radically new commitment to improving the health of the world’s people.

Aditi Sen is a senior in Morse College.

Shakira Sanchez-Collins is a freshman in Morse College.