New York Times Editorial Reveals Life-threatening Impacts of Funding Cuts and Champions Helen Keller
An opinion piece from New York Times writer Nick Kristof highlights the escalating, life-threatening consequences communities around the world now face because of US government cuts to global health programs. He also once again expresses his support for our organization.
In the article, Nick details a visit to a warehouse in Makeni, Sierra Leone, where millions of doses of donated pharmaceuticals used to prevent neglected tropical diseases are now sitting unused because there is no longer any funding to dispense them.
These medicines were originally meant for mass drug administration campaigns, annual events in which hundreds of thousands of community health heroes distribute treatments across the country in order to protect their communities from debilitating diseases.
But today, Nick reports, “the medications are gathering dust, and some are approaching their expiration dates and may have to be destroyed, at immense expense.”
For nearly two decades, the US government partnered with countries around the world to combat neglected tropical diseases. Until recently, Helen Keller served as the lead implementing partner for these efforts in Sierra Leone and five other West African countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. That progress came to an abrupt halt when the US government decided to cut funding for the long-running program. Our team estimates that 100 million people in the countries we serve are now at risk of these devastating illnesses, in large part because they can no longer access these critical preventive medications.
In response, Nick recommends Helen Keller as one organization readers can support to help bridge this funding gap.
“I know my readers will be asking how they can help….For those wishing to donate, one nonprofit to consider is Helen Keller Intl, which works to prevent blindness and to provide better nutrition and was meant to distribute the drugs in that warehouse in Sierra Leone. If it can raise the money privately, it can go forward so at least some children will be protected from blindness, worms and Washington’s savage indifference.”
Read the full article in The New York Times.
Help ensure all children and families are protected from debilitating diseases.
