Through addressing this critical child health problem, the US and Japan will contribute to saving millions of children each year. The U.S. Agency for International Development has pledged additional money in fiscal year 2000 to support technical assistance and targeted communications support for Vitamin A capsule programs. The Government of Japan is making efforts to support control programs on iodine deficiency disorders in Nepal, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Cambodia by means of grant aid and technical assistance. Together, the two governments have collaborated on reproductive health programs designed to meet the challenge of improving the status and rights of the mother. We have provided assistance and support to reproductive health programs in countries such as Madagascar, Indonesia, Peru and Mexico and both countries continue to look for expanded areas of synergy, such as recently developed in Bangladesh and Zambia.
Tuberculosis is a worldwide problem, and Asia is particularly affected.
The Governments of the U.S. and Japan have forged a strong partnership in development cooperation to fight infectious diseases under the U.S.-Japan Common Agenda. U.S.-Japanese collaboration has helped Zambia control malaria morbidity and mortality. But the seriousness of this situation calls for all donors as well as all host country governments to renew efforts in the international struggle with these diseases. As a first step, and building on our various programs and collaboration in Indochina, both governments propose to send a joint team to Cambodia to formulate possible responses to these growing challenges. Under the leadership of the government of Bangladesh, both the US and Japan will strive to develop cooperative activities designed to achieve our common goals in these priority areas.