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Subcommittee Examines Budget for Foreign Assistance

On May 10, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights held a hearing on the FY2012 budget for foreign assistance to Africa and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

While Chair Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Ranking Member Donald Payne (D-NJ) acknowledged that the subcommittee would hold a future hearing on global health programs, Sharon Cromer, senior deputy assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), explained that 77 percent of the $7.8 billion FY2012 budget request for Africa would be largely divided among President Obama’s three major initiatives: Feed the Future, the Global Health Initiative, and Global Climate Change. Ms. Cromer noted that “We have prioritized funding in areas that have maximum impact on the health of women and children to achieve dramatic, meaningful results for the American people’s investment in the developing world.”

In discussing the Feed the Future initiative, Ms. Cromer said, “Women are the backbone of the economy in Africa, so gender concerns are integrated in all our efforts and we are helping partners strengthen their capacity to consider gender throughout all stages of the agricultural production, processing, and marketing. Women are also the key to improving nutrition, so we are investing in cost-effective nutrition programs that focus on women and young children.”

With regard to USAID’s efforts to improve global health, she added, “The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR] has prevented more than a quarter million newborns from contracting HIV/AIDS and provided care to over 9.4 million people. In 2000 malaria killed nearly a million people each year in sub-Saharan Africa, but by 2009, that number had dropped nearly 20 percent, and the $30 billion a year in productivity lost due to the disease has also begun to fall. Of the eight President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) focus countries in Africa where baseline and follow-up health surveys have been conducted, all have reported substantial reductions in child mortality, ranging from 16 to 36 percent. Malaria prevention and control measures have been a major factor in these reductions. Fistula remains a major problem in many African countries. We have supported 25 fistula centers in nine African countries and funded the training of medical personnel, treating and counseling of thousands of women with fistula, and preventing and managing the condition. In Ethiopia, for instance, central USAID-supported fistula repair centers are complemented by ‘prerepair’ centers, which provide nourishment and physical therapy to patients and teams that mobilize and educate communities on fistula prevention, identification, and repair. But despite these successes urgent challenges remain. This year, more than 350,000 women will die in pregnancy or childbirth and 8 million children will die of preventable diseases before their fifth birthday; approximately half of these deaths will occur in Africa, and undernutrition is a leading contributing factor. Through the Global Health Initiative (GHI), the United States in partnership with host countries and other donors will accelerate progress toward ambitious health goals which will improve the lives of millions. Funding is targeted to the highest priorities – infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and family planning – while helping developing countries build their capacity to help their own people.”

Ambassador Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary, Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State, and Patrick Fine, vice president, Department of Compact Operations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, also testified.