Yunus briefs Hillary about Grameen healthcare plans
On April 15, 2009 Secretary Clinton met with Dr. Prof. Muhammad Yunus and representatives
from Grameen Healthcare and Grameen America at the State Department.
They discussed his plans to transform health care in Bangladesh through
the development of Health Management Centers. Secretary Clinton is a
long-time advocate of microcredit and expanding the availability of
health care. A Nobel Laureate, Dr. Yunus, studied Economics at
Vanderbilt University in 1965 as a Fulbright scholar.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receives Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus at her US State Department office in Washington DC Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday received Prof Muhammad Yunus
and the Grameen Healthcare delegation to the World Healthcare Congress at her
office.
During a 90 minute meeting with the 14-member Grameen delegation, Prof Yunus
briefed the secretary about Grameen's healthcare plans and social business
initiatives.
Secretary Clinton, who visited Grameen Bank in 1995, and is a long-time
proponent of microcredit for the poor, offered her support to Grameen's
healthcare programme.
Prof Yunus discussed, in particular, the proposed creation of a GrameenMedicalCollege and teaching hospital as joint
venture collaboration with a leading school of medicine of a premier US university.
Prof Yunus updated the US
secretary of state on the latest developments within Grameen Bank. He also
emphasized the importance of a new legislation to create microfinance banks in
the USA
and other countries.
Hillary sought Prof Yunus's assistance in crafting a bill for that purpose.
She pointed out that microfinance can play a key role during the current
financial crisis by helping the unemployed generate to create self-employment.
The two leaders also discussed issues of global warming and environmental
degradation and its threat to Bangladesh.
Yunus, pointing out that climate change was an issue of life and death for Bangladesh, requested Hillary Clinton's support
for global action and initiatives to help Bangladesh counteract the effects
of climate change.
He requested the secretary to pay special attention to the Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) and help them cope with the current global financial crisis.
He also sought her help in allowing duty-free access to garment products
from Bangladesh to the USA.
