Obama Calls for Development on Trip to Russia, G-8, Ghana
FrontLines - August 2009
By Angela Rucker
President Barack Obama
in July visited Russia and the G-8 summit of industrial powers
before making his first visit to Africa as president, where he spoke in support of Ghana’s democracy and highlighted comprehensive care for women and their babies at a local
hospital. |
President Barack Obama meets a mother and her infant at
La General Hospital in Accra, Ghana, July 11. USAID provides support to several programs at the hospital, including its maternal and child health programs..
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In Russia, his first stop, Obama met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as well as representatives of civil society
organizations.
At the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy—the second stop on the trip—Obama announced that countries represented at the summit plan to invest $20 billion
in agricultural development in poor countries during the next three years to help them feed their own people without relying on food aid.
At Obama’s final stop in Ghana, enthusiastic crowds lined his travel route trying to catch a glimpse of the first African-American U.S. president and his family. And Obama returned the admiration, telling Ghanaians that, “you show us a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by
a world that sees only tragedy
or a need for charity.”
“The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well,” Obama said in remarks he delivered to the Ghanaian parliament.
While declaring that Ghana and the entire African continent has a prominent role to play in world affairs, he also took some African countries to task for corruption and cronyism that has stalled economic and social progress.
“Development depends on good governance,” Obama said to a round of applause from Ghanaian officials whose country is considered a role model for good governance. “This is the ingredient which has been missing
in far too many places, for far too long. That’s the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.”
In Accra, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama toured La General Hospital, where USAID is working with the government to reduce maternal and infant deaths. These and other interventions
appear to be working: Ghana’s infant mortality rate has dropped almost 30 percent in the past decade.
Robert Hellyer, USAID’s director in Ghana, greeted the Obamas at the hospital where they met 25 women waiting for prenatal care checkups, chatted
with several new mothers and staff members, and cooed over babies and young children dressed to impress.
The Obamas observed USAID support for improved labor and delivery services; post-partum care of new mothers and infants; nutritional counseling for mothers
with older infants; and family planning counseling and services. The president also spoke with USAID staffers about malaria programs in Ghana.
Susan Wright, the acting health officer at USAID’s Ghana office, said the visit “allowed us to demonstrate
our joint focus on preventive
measures to help mothers and infants stay healthy.”
Added Dr. Elias Sory, director
general of the Ghana Health Service: “This visit was a great way to show the excellent collaboration
between the U.S. and Ghana to improve maternal and child health. This has been a strong partnership for many years and is becoming ever stronger.”
Obama said that infant mortality
rates were still too high in many parts of Africa and that U.S. development assistance on the continent will strengthen public health as well as support democratic governments, trade and investment, and conflict resolution.
Closing the G-8 summit in Italy, Obama said the move to invest in agricultural development was long overdue and represented “a commitment to reform the way the international community approaches food security.”
While some of the details are still being worked out, Obama signaled
his intention to ask Congress to double U.S. agricultural development
assistance to more than $1 billion a year by 2010.
In Russia, Obama held talks with Medvedev and Putin in an effort to repair strained relations between the United States and Russia.
First lady Michelle Obama conducted a bit of diplomacy as well, charming nursing students and children on a visit to the St. Dmitriy Sisters of Mercy Nursing College and Primary School. USAID supports courses at the college
that prepare nurses to care for HIV/AIDS patients. More than 760 nurses have graduated from the nursing school, and 240 students are attending courses this year.
“Before I became first lady, I worked in a hospital and one of my jobs was to work to develop volunteerism in the hospital and bring it out to the communities,”
Michelle Obama said to the nurses, according to the Washington Post. “One of the most important things I learned while working in the hospital
is nurses are critical to the health-care system in the United States.”
★ Laura Ashbaugh contributed to this article.
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