Good Essay On Comparison Of Usaid And Red Cross

<Institution>
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the one of largest governmental agencies. The Headquarters of USAID is in the Ronald Reagan Building in the Washington D.C. The mission of USAID is to end extreme poverty and improves health of the people. In addressing poverty issue, USAID also improves health of the people. USAID mainly serves vulnerable and marginalized populations. One of USAID’s health interventions is the Vulnerable Populations Programs to help in serving its target population. Through the Vulnerable Populations Programs, vulnerable populations gain access to opportunities that support their participation in society. The Vulnerable Populations Programs contribute to USAID goal of improving health and protecting human rights worldwide.
USAID also works with its target population using two programs; the Wheelchair Program that improves the availability and access to wheelchairs in the developing countries and the Victim of Torture Program that provides treatment and rehabilitation to individuals suffering from torture and trauma. USAID gets its funding from taxes and the US Congress. The US Congress funds USAID to enable it implement its projects worldwide. USAID is not part of a larger public health infrastructure; it is a large infrastructure on its own that aims at promoting global health care. USAID coordinates with other US government organizations and the military to meet its development goals. Currently, USAID is developing initiatives to help prepare the world for emerging infectious diseases like Ebola and pandemic influenza. USAID has a culture of that encourages the inculcation of ethics into work, and this guides the interaction between USAID and other partners. The interesting part about USAID is that apart from facilitating access to healthcare, the organization is the largest provider of food aid in the world. This is in line with its organizational goals of ending global poverty and improving global health. Other functions of USAID include investing in people by improving their education levels and promoting economic growth to combat poverty and to provide humanitarian assistance (Usaid.gov, 2015).
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (RCRC) is the largest global health non-governmental organization. The headquarters of RCRC is in Geneva. The mission of RCRC is to reduce human suffering, protect life and health, and provide relief during conflicts and other emergencies. The target population for RCRC Movement is any population that is facing a natural calamity, or people exposed to any form of accident, and they are in need of assistance. RCRC attends to its target population by providing the necessary first aid for emergency responses and providing community health for the population facing natural calamities.
In most cases, RCRC Movement gets funding from well-wishers who willingly donate funds to the movement to help the movement accomplish its goals. RCRC is not part of a large public health organization. RCRC Movement is a large public health organization with national societies in different countries globally. RCRC works through its National Societies in collaboration with other organizations in order to do its work more effectively. Currently, RCRC is focusing on improving the efficiency and delivery of effective health care in armed conflict and other emergencies through Health Care in Danger project. Humanitarian imperatives come first, and code of conduct reminds RCRC members to provide humanitarian assistance wherever it is needed. The interesting fact about RCRC is that it has approximately 97 million volunteers, staff, and members worldwide. The role of RCRC is to protect life and dignity of victims by providing them with assistance. Functions of RCRC include provision of first aid and health emergencies, community health among others (Ifrc.org, 2015).
In conclusion, the similarity between RCRC and USAID is their mission to improve health care quality. Their main difference is that RCRC is a non-governmental organization while USAID is a bilateral organization. In addition, while RCRC gets its funding from well-wishers, USAID is funded using government taxes. It was interesting to learn both organizations are making an impact at the global stage in terms of facilitating access to health care.

References

Ifrc.org. (2015). IFRC.org - IFRC. Retrieved 19 March 2015, from http://www.ifrc.org/en/
Usaid.gov. (2015). U.S. Agency for International Development. Retrieved 19 March 2015, from
http://www.usaid.gov/
\