Recent news
July 2011
Science and innovation are crucial to achieving development goals, editorial says
July 22, 2011 -- “Throughout history, some of the greatest successes in development have come from extending the reach of scientific and technological breakthroughs to those who lacked access. We must continue to harness the ingenuity of the world’s top researchers and scientific leaders to achieve development goals,” Rajiv Shah, administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), writes in a Science editorial. He adds that over the past 50 years, USAID has “partnered with the global scientific community to pioneer many innovations that have fueled major successes,” such as a “new vaccine delivery approach that ensured global smallpox eradication” and “oral rehydration solutions that prevented diarrheal diseases from rapidly killing millions of children.”
According to Shah, he and other US leaders are “working to recapture this legacy in science and technology, recognizing the power that breakthroughs have to transform insurmountable development challenges into solvable problems.” He concludes, “As we mark the agency’s 50th anniversary, USAID will continue to seek transformative scientific breakthroughs and drive efforts to deliver them to those in greatest need. But it will take the active participation, focused commitment, and ingenuity of the global scientific community to tackle development challenges and build a better future.” See the link below for more information.
