Laura Bush highlights USAID contribution
to health and education in Senegal

First Lady Laura Bush addresses children and guests at HLM Grand Medine Primary School in Dakar. White House Photo.

DAKAR, June 26, 2007 -- First lady Laura Bush drew international media attention to key health and education activities supported by USAID at the onset of a five-day trip to Senegal, Mozambique, Zambia and Mali.

Accompanied by Senegal’s First Lady, Viviane Wade, and their daughters, Mrs. Bush on June 26 visited the Ambulatory Treatment Center, an outpatient facility for people living with HIV/AIDS at Fann Hospital in the capital, Dakar.

Part of USAID’s support to the Center is channeled through the nongovernmental organization Development in Gardening (DIG) to establish the first outpatient garden in Senegal. The garden has significant impact on patient nutritional status, social and economic livelihood and general sense of well-being.

"These gardens serve as a great role model, a great example for other hospitals or other communities across Africa to improve gardens as part of their treatment, “said Mrs. Bush after picking a basketful of eggplant, kale, and peppers with her daughter, Jenna. “They also give the people who come here and work in the gardens all the gardening techniques that they need so they can also grow vegetables at home – and maybe even in a microfinance sense be able to grow vegetables at home and sell those as well.”

In presenting more than 2,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets to Fann patients and representatives of local associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, she also drew attention to the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), a USAID-led activity which is providing $16.7 million this year alone to prevent and treat malaria – Senegal’s leading cause of death. “I’m very proud that the people of the United States are standing with the people of Senegal in the work to eradicate malaria,” she added.  People living with HIV/AIDS -- along with pregnant women and children under five years old -- are especially vulnerable to the dangers of malaria and are slated for support under the PMI over the life of the four-year initiative in Senegal.

People living with HIV/AIDS -- along with pregnant women and children under five years old -- are especially vulnerable to the dangers of malaria and are slated for support under the PMI over the life of the four-year initiative in Senegal.

USAID began working with the Ambulatory Treatment Center at Fann Hospital in 2002 through its implementing partner, Family Health International (FHI). This partnership has supported the center, through financial and technical assistance, as it broadened the package of comprehensive care services to introduce various nutritional and psychosocial activities, while maintaining high quality medical care. The Center’s staff has also provided technical expertise to encourage similar facilities to be set up with USAID support in other regions of the country.

USAID also provides nutritional food supplements through its Food for Peace program. Since 2005, patients at the Center have received 27.5 pounds of lentils and fortified flour and four liters of fortified oil every two months. In 2007, over 2,850 patients are registered and regularly use the facility and its resources. These include nationals from more than 10 other countries.

Mrs. Bush also visited HLM Grand Medine Primary School where she highlighted the U.S. assistance through the Africa Education Initiative (AEI). Established in 2002, AEI provides scholarships to African girls and will have provided training for more than 900,000 African teachers by the end of the decade. She noted that in its first four years, the initiative, supported by USAID, has trained nearly 4,000 teachers in Senegal and has provided Ambassador’s Scholarships for nearly 1,300 Senegalese girls.

AEI has also partnered with six American universities to produce and print primary school textbooks. AEI has supplied nearly 500,000 books for children in Senegal’s 6,000 primary schools so far. Senegal’s partner in creating the textbooks is Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. “Many of these books were first tested here at the Grand Medine School,” said Mrs. Bush. “Your vice principal, Mrs. Ba, says they’ve already brought new life into the classrooms.”

The First Lady announced that AEI will deliver another 800,000 textbooks by the end of 2007, and started by presenting Senegal’s Education Minister Mustapha Sourang with several boxes of these books.

Professor Sourang noted American assistance to middle school education in the country, which has already seen the construction of 30 rural schools with 20 more to be built by early 2008. “The U.S. involvement in Senegal, as witnessed by the Middle School Program, has created popular enthusiasm, which shows that objectives are being reached in areas reputed hostile to girls’ schooling, and to formal education in general.”

He said USAID’s $20 million program has recently increased by $16.8 million and will be extended through 2010.

Professor Sourang said the decision to launch AEI “signals the commitment of the American government to the idea that education is one of the keys to economic growth for a country. It is one of the essential components towards the fight against poverty, and one of the determining tools for the building of lasting democracy.”

HLM Grand Medine School Director Mame Samba Diop said his school, built in 1984 and which currently instructs 495 students, “only started to experience significant development in 2002, when we started to benefit from American cooperation.”

“The diverse forms of support from USAID for our school allowed it to increase its capacity, to enhance the professionalism of its teachers, and to enhance the skills of the management committee. This support has also allowed our school to obtain significant learning materials,” he said in reference to the textbooks.

He called on Mrs. Bush to “be the advocate of African children, so that education, which is their most important need, remains a priority in American assistance programs.”