Thank you to our U.S. senators for fighting against famine, starvation and preventable diseases.
As a member of the global anti-poverty advocacy group ONE, and as a New Hampshire state representative, I am proud of the continued leadership by New Hampshire's senators in the fight against famine, starvation and preventable diseases like malaria - literally death from a mosquito bite that kills more people each year than the population of our state. While many issues divide people across party lines, in the struggle to save lives and safeguard security in the poorest places on earth, it is not a question of political party, but of political will and leadership.
One of the champions of the world's poorest people, former senator John Sununu, recently went on a trip to Africa, where he saw U.S. programs that he helped create and champion while in Congress. Some of these efforts include prevention of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission, disbursement of anti-malaria bed nets and infrastructure development.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has signed her support for the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria around the world, a program that has won bipartisan support in its responsible, accountable and results-driven approach to combatting some of the biggest plagues that needlessly kill millions of people in desperate, poverty-stricken countries. Shaheen has also co-sponsored the Durbin-Corker Water for the World Act, which would help coordinate efforts to bring clean water to millions of people deprived of this simple necessity to a healthy life.
Recently, Sen. Judd Gregg was instrumental in providing the money necessary for the Global Fund, the Millennium Challenge Corp., and U.S. efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria - heroic levels of funding, only matched by the historic opportunity to save so many lives. In addition, Gregg helped to fund programs that will aid in development of better agricultural policy in the developing world, something that President Obama spoke of at the recent G8 summit in Italy. Gregg also helped secure money to help bring basic education to children living in extreme poverty so that they are not forced into extremist schools, a notion that Mitt Romney expressed in many New Hampshire town hall meetings.
There is more to be done, but this modest investment made by the United States in saving lives and lifting millions more out of less-than-a-dollar-a-day poverty, reflects the values and traditions of our country and our state. In these tough economic times, it is also a wise investment in helping to secure and stabilize dangerous areas of the world.
I am proud of what our nation is doing to save lives around the world and prouder still that New Hampshire's senators have been at the forefront.
(Rep. Jeffrey St. Cyr is a Republican from Alton.)