Global Health: USAID Supported a Wide Range of Child and Maternal Health Activities, but Lacked Detailed Spending Data and a Proven Method for Sharing Best Practices

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Every year, disease and other conditions kill about 10 million children younger than 5 years, and more than 500,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes. To help improve their health, Congress created the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund. The 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act directed GAO to review the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) use of the fund for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. Committees of jurisdiction indicated their interest centered on the Child Survival and Maternal Health (CS/MH) account of the fund. GAO examined USAID's (1) allocations, obligations, and expenditures of CS/MH funds; (2) activities undertaken with those funds; (3) methods for disseminating CS/MH information; and (4) response to challenges to its CS/MH programs. GAO conducted surveys of 40 health officers, visited USAID missions in four countries, interviewed USAID officials, and reviewed data.