A boy from India following the 2004 Tsunami - Disabled children at the Child Development Centre in Malawi
This month the USA has revised regulations over USAid. The changes will allow firms in developing countries to apply as contractors/suppliers for the aid, except in the areas of food, motor vehicles and US-patented pharmaceuticals. These will still be sourced from American companies, while other services or goods can now be ‘bought locally’.
- “How should aid money be spent?”
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Hannah Edwards, Press Officer, SOS Children UK
This month the USA has revised regulations over USAid. The changes will allow firms in developing countries to apply as contractors/suppliers for the aid, except in the areas of food, motor vehicles and US-patented pharmaceuticals. These will still be sourced from American companies, while other services or goods can now be ‘bought locally’.
The UK delinked development assistance from ‘buying British’ in 2001, believing that “tied aid reduces value for money”. Even so, the majority of UK aid-funded contracts still go to British firms. The view is no doubt taken that UK suppliers offer greater efficiency and a transparency which allows for accurate assessment of how effectively money is being spent.
Many are sceptical about the efficacy of ‘big aid’, where large amounts of money are handed over to local agencies or governments of developing countries. Nevertheless, ‘big aid’ remains part of the UK’s assistance to developing nations. The argument goes that if countries are given money to administer and spend for themselves, they feel ‘local ownership’. New facilities like hospitals are therefore less likely to be viewed as expensive ‘gifts’ which are then left unsupported by local administrations.
The Economist looks at the case of Sierra Leone, where Britain has provided 24 million pounds to help support the country’s introduction of free health care, now offered to pregnant women, new mothers and children under five. Despite the success of a high uptake among Sierra Leone’s women, which has no doubt saved many lives, problems with missing drugs and the demanding of payment in some places still occur. From working in the country, some British doctors have suggested that the Sierra Leonean authorities lack the experience to organise the complex provision of free health care.
In contrast, the article highlights the example of ‘little aid’ in Sierra Leone, where money is targeted through professional and independent foreign organisations working on the ground. Off the coast of Freetown, volunteer doctors on board a Mercy Ship (run by an American charity) are successfully performing many vital operations, such as cataract removal and fixing cleft palates, insulated from incompetent or corrupt officials and the country’s unreliable electricity supplies.
But if foreign staff or organisations are always relied upon to provide essential services, how will developing governments ever build up the necessary know-how and experience? Surely there has to be a place for giving some financial aid to governments and local organisations (albeit carefully monitored). Isn’t this the only way developing nations can begin to learn for themselves?
What do you think? Tweet us @sos_children or at comment at facebook.com/soschildren.
- "Helping families and disabled children in extreme poverty in Malawi”
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Martin Brooke, Volunteer with SOS Children in Malawi
This week I spent an afternoon in the Child Development Centre situated just below the SOS Medical Clinic. They have three rooms and an outside area, where three therapists work with impressive dedication. One of the staff members was Victor, who also drove the car that picked me up at the airport when I arrived in Malawi!
The therapists at the Centre help 100 patients in sessions each week. In addition, they run parent education groups for parents of disabled children. Families come from great distances to attend, travelling on public minibuses or on foot. This service is a real lifeline for the families who would otherwise be looking after their disabled children without any psychological support and guidance.
In one day, I saw three children. One of these, a young girl called Martha, was a very premature child, delivered and surviving at 30 weeks gestation. She now has cerebral palsy and contractures. Another child, MacDonald, suffered from severe learning disabilities and anencephaly (under development of the brain). There were other children with post-cerebral malaria. I work in a development centre in England and these therapists were just as good, despite making do with home-made equipment. Due to the scarcity and high prices of fuel, staff are sadly unable to offer an outreach service to visit children in their homes.
The clinic is closed over the weekend so Mondays are usually full. Appointments start at 7.30am and finish at about 3.30pm, with an hour for lunch. The clinical officer, Davie, is very experienced with common complaints. I feel as though I am learning from him, and hopefully he is learning from me. In this area, malaria is a common disease. Symptoms include body ache, diarrhoea and vomiting. Jimi in the laboratory will do blood films to confirm, and the pharmacy is well stocked with drugs that are commonly used to treat malaria. On the Friday of this week, a lady aged 80 arrived at the clinic in a wheelbarrow, too ill to walk and too poor to buy transport. Accompanied by her elderly and desperate husband, and pushed by a family friend, she was really sick with malaria. This is the far end of poverty. After providing her with treatment for her condition, she left the clinic in the same wheelbarrow.
Martin, an NHS associate specialist in pediatrics, is currently volunteering at the SOS Medical Centre in Blantyre, Malawi, where 21,000 people are treated every year.
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