USAID in Africa

Population & Family Planning

USAID's objectives in the population and family planning sector are to contribute to sustained and broad based economic growth by:

• Reducing the rapid rate of population growth through sustainable reduction in unintended pregnancies
• Increasing use by women and men of voluntary practices that contribute to reducing fertility
• Improving maternal and child health by enabling women to space between births and to limit family size
• Relieving the stresses placed on employment, education and health care systems caused by rapid population growth.

Some of USAID's priorities and activities are:

• Increasing access to and demand for family planning services
• Encouraging greater involvement of NGO and private, for-profit sectors
• Improving quality of services
• Supporting expanded access to education, especially for girls.

Child Survival

USAID's child survival objectives in Africa are to reduce morbidity and mortality in Africa's under-five population, to strengthen health systems, and to strengthen the capacities of African institutions.

Some of USAID's priorities and activities in this area include:

• Support for health sector reform
• Fostering partnerships between ministries of health and NGOs/commercial private sector
• Continued successful implementation of basic child survival intervention
• Support for the eradication of polio in coordination with WHO/AFRO and other partners.

HIV/AIDS Prevention & Mitigation

The framework and principles of USAID's HIV/AIDS program in Africa are to increase policymakers' awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on their societies, focus on prevention of the infection, create sustainable programs, and emphasize continual program monitoring and evaluation.

In Africa, USAID is emphasizing a strategy of implementing health sectorn programs aimed at preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS. USAID is also investigating ways to reduce the impact of the epidemic on affected persons as well as on various sectors of society in an effort to learn more about how to mitigate the adverse consequences of premature adult deaths due to AIDS.