By Wenjun Xiong
In the past six years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided plenty of international assistances to developing countries, including those in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Both technical and financial assistances are provided by USAID. For financial assistance, USAID supplies money to local and international organizations from developing countries to implement their programs.
Under USAID’s support, many Latin American nations have experienced monumental growth and change in economic and healthcare development. From the graph, we can see that 8 countries in Latin America received the financial aid. They are Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru and Dominican Republic. Haiti is the country that received the most money from 2011 to 2015. This might be spent to support Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. Many countries responded to help Haiti for humanitarian aid, by pledging funds and providing rescue and medical teams. In 2013, Haiti received more than 250 million dollars and most of this focused on economic development, healthcare and humanitarian assistance. As a result, USAID provides access to healthcare to approximately 50% of the Haitian population(1).
The funding dollars for each country are spent on different development categories. Most Latin American countries received funding in two categories of programs: democracy and governance and economic development. The progress has been made through the partnership with USAID. The security, governance, and prosperity in Latin America are improved, particularly in the Northern Triangle countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador (2).
Compared to other regions, Latin America received less money than Africa and the Middle East. The money that Haiti received is one-fifth the amount that Afghanistan received from 2011-2015. This might be due to the smaller population and a higher level of stability in Haiti.