Canada called a ‘shining light’ in foreign aid
Canada is a “bright and shining light of optimism” in a world that is challenging the concept of global citizenship in many ways, the executive director of one of the world’s leading global health research institutes said Tuesday.
John Clemons, executive director of the Bangladesh-based International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, is in Ottawa to meet with government officials and parliamentarians in an effort to increase awareness about its work as it seeks increased funding from Canada.
Clemons said it was too soon to say what the Trump administration in Washington might mean for his organization’s funding, but he noted the concept of global concern for the health of those living in poverty is being “challenged” on many fronts in the world.
Canada has swum against that tide, he said, and serves an important role in the world by doing so.
“Canada stands to serve a real global leadership role in continuing and expanding this tradition,” he said.
That role, he added, is embodied in sustainable development goals, such as ending poverty and combating climate change, that are being spearheaded by the United Nations.
Canada has long been a core funder of the Bangladesh-based organization, which is responsible for numerous life-saving health innovations, including the use of oral hydration therapy to save the lives of children with severe diarrhea.
Canada is the organization’s third-biggest donor, after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K.
Clemons said funding from Canada helped the group with work such as its finding that the use of tetanus vaccines in women of child-bearing age and during pregnancy would virtually eliminate what was once a major cause of neonatal death.
The organization would like to see a funding increase of up to 25 per cent over the US$20 million it received during its last five-year funding cycle from Canada.
Core funding from Canada and elsewhere, he said, “provides us with stability.
“It allows us to have autonomy as an international organization to pursue strategic goals in attempts to improve and inform global health.
“We operate in clear alignment with Canadian government priorities in global health.”
Among other global health achievements of the centre, which has extended beyond its original mandate, is work to improve the health of women and girls in Bangladesh and around the world. Its research has provided evidence for the government of Bangladesh to introduce policies to improve the health and rights of girls and women.
Its work on development, testing and implementation of oral rehydration is estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives. It is one of the world’s oldest infectiousdisease research organizations. Emerging infectious diseases, in the wake of the Ebola epidemic, is an area of focus for the organization and of increasing global concern.
Canada has had a long-standing close relationship with the organization. Among previous board members is former auditor general of Canada Kenneth Dye.