Global Health
U.S. Agency for International Development Fights AIDS in Africa, but Better Data Needed to Measure Impact Gao ID: GAO-01-449 March 23, 2001The AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has grown beyond a public health problem to become a humanitarian and developmental crisis. The Agency for International Development (AID) has contributed to the fight against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by focusing on interventions proven to slow the spread of the disease. However, AID's ability to measure the impact of its activities on reducing transmission of HIV/AIDS is limited by (1) inconsistent use of performance indicators, (2) sporadic data collection, and (3) lack of routine reporting of results to headquarters. As part of its approach for allocating the 53 percent increase in funding for HIV/AIDS prevention activities in sub-Saharan Africa for fiscal year 2001, AID prepared a plan to expand monitoring and evaluation systems in countries designated as in need of significant increases in assistance. However, when implemented, the monitoring and evaluation requirements in the plan will not initially include all countries where AID missions and regional offices in sub-Saharan Africa implement HIV/AIDS programs. Further, the plan does not specify to whom these data will be reported or how the information will be used. Failure to address these issues not only inhibits AID's ability to measure the performance of its HIV/AIDS activities but also hinders the agency's decision-making regarding allocation of resources among missions and regional offices and limits efforts to identify best practices.
RecommendationsOur recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
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