USAID-India

Our first full day in India included a visit to the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Visiting the embassy required pre-arrangements, showing passports, waiting, going through metal detectors, and the temporary confiscation of all electronic/metal devices and our passports. We were not even allowed to go to the restrooms on our own. Welcome to Fortress America!

We were quickly escorted to a meeting room where we met the officials in charge of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in India.

As India is quickly becoming the most populated country in the world, the U.S. has justifiably increased its interest in the country and its well-being. USAID aims to promote global health, food security, and mitigating the effects of global climate change. In India, these three areas have astounding statistics. Agency officials said 400 million people live on less than $1.00 per day with 1 in 17 children dying before the age of 5 and 16% of the global maternal mortality rate. USAID partners with private non-profit organizations in India to address these issues. This program partners with 34 organizations and provides $380 million for Indian organizations to establish and maintain programs to improve public health education. Many topics like youth sexual education and personal health are slowly improving and with the help of USAID, funds are being utilized to promote Indian well-being which also translates to global well-being.

I found this presentation to be very interesting because of my own interest in promoting personal and sexual health. This is an area I feel that not enough Americans talk about, thus leading to preventable health problems. Far too many people avoid these topics despite those being essential to healthy lifestyles, particularly college students, this is why the work that USAID does is important to everyone, and not just Indian nationals.

Suyin D