Dr. Jenny Eaton Dyer appeared on Episcopal Cafe to discuss global health issues.

Recent headlines have been filled with stories and images of parents being separated from their children by the U.S. government. This is not what our country represents. In fact, 15 years ago, we enacted the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, to do quite the opposite, and the program has gone on to save the lives of millions, keep families intact, and provide support for millions of orphans, vulnerable children and their caregivers. It represents the best of America, and we can be proud of the global legacy it has created.

Right now, we are living in a moment when four different famines impact more than 20 million lives due to hunger and malnutrition. Though this is devastating, there is good news.

Seventy years ago, America refused to be bullied and distracted. We refused to turn inward. Millions of people in West Berlin needed help, and only America could do it.

Since 1990, the United States has led the fight to eradicate extreme poverty — those living on less than $1.25 a day. American leadership has helped cut extreme poverty by a historic 50 percent.

It’s always interesting to see what stories some news outlets will obsess over. One thing is a guarantee: they tend to prioritize negative events. This is why you’ll rarely hear about the amazing stories I have witnessed while in Kenya.

We can agree to some extent that we are, as Christians, afforded the opportunity to think outside of the paradigm of nationalism, and transcend the idea of “our own,” as simply an indicator of citizenship within our American borders. But what does it mean for the government of the U.S., as it attempts to operate inside the confines of the Constitution?

While I'm grateful for the resources here in the United States, I'm very concerned about my brothers and sisters around the world who are daily confronted with scarcity, poverty, violence and despair.

Because the majority of reporting around the overall giving to charities and causes has been trending in extremely positive ways, you may not have recognized the gloomy trend showing that conservative Christians are, en masse, turning away from supporting foreign assistance programs that serve the poor, the hungry, the thirsty and the sick living outside of the United States.