Global poverty eradication efforts should start with health issues, opinion piece says

"Eradicating global poverty starts with the health of the world's poor," Bill Frist, former U.S. Senate Majority leader and currently a member of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Board of Directors, writes in a Charlotte Observer opinion piece.

"It starts with empowering them physically to contribute to the vitality of their countries," Frist says, which "makes as much good sense for the world's poor as for our collective international economic growth."

Frist says that Obama's recent proposal of a six-year $63 billion global health initiative is "bold," and the "smart use of resources improves the health of the world's poorest and strengthens the global economic climate for us all." He writes that it's important not to overlook "other factors that directly affect global health," such as roads and water and sanitation systems. He points to the U.S. government's Millennium Challenge Corporation, which "takes a holistic approach to global health, laying the groundwork for poverty reduction and economic development."

"By building healthier, hopeful, and productive communities, we build safer and more secure societies that can alleviate global poverty and contribute to global prosperity," Frist writes. "When communities are productive and thriving they don't become breeding grounds for dangerous extremism" (Frist, Charlotte Observer, 5/14).