Arrow
Fòs Feminista | International Alliance for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
YEAR 2018

Actor Score Overview

The U.S. government, including the White House, Congress, and relevant federal agencies, should engage in global health assistance in ways that are evidence-informed, responsive to need, consistent with internationally-recognized human rights principles, and gender transformative. Data and documentation supporting these actions should be reasonably accessible to the public.

D+

This is an average of the three domain scores.

White House

The White House received a 69 (D+) with transparency and a 73 (C) without transparency in 2018. This is due to the fact that the grades for both Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health were low because insufficient funds were requested for both programs in the FY 2019 budget request. The White House’s grade increased in the HIV and AIDS domain because the President signed the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and requested sufficient funds for HIV and AIDS in the FY 2019 budget request. Budgetary information for the White House was difficult to find, which led to a low transparency score across domains.

Selecting a document will download the file
2018_President’s-Budget-Request.pdf

B+
HIV & AIDS
D
Maternal and Child Health
F
Family Planning
View White House Score Card
B

This is an average of the three domain scores.

Congress

Congress received an 85 (B) with transparency and an 86 (B) without transparency because it proposed adequate funding for family planning, HIV and AIDS, and maternal and child health programs in the appropriations process in 2018. Congress’ grades increased since 2017 in all three domains due to adequate funding and high transparency, despite the fact that there was little legislation passed by Congress in 2018. The legislation that was passed in 2018 was not gender transformative, but was based in evidence and human rights principles and was responsive to need.

Selecting a document will download the file
2018_Congress-Budget.pdf

A
HIV & AIDS
B+
Maternal and Child Health
C
Family Planning
View Congress Score Card
D-

This is an average of the three domain scores.

Department of State

The Department of State received a 60 (D-) with transparency and a 65 (D) without transparency. The Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health domain grades are low because the only guidance that was issued in these domains included the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Six Month Review and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), neither of which were evidence-based, based in human rights norms, or gender transformative. The Department of State did issue technical guidance and annual reports that support HIV and AIDS programs that were evidence-based, based in human rights norms, and responsive to need, but were not gender transformative. In all three domains, the Department of State’s funding data received a high transparency score and the issued guidance received a lower transparency score.

A-
HIV & AIDS
F
Maternal and Child Health
F
Family Planning
View State Dept. Score Card
C

This is an average of the three domain scores.

US Agency for International Development

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) received a 74 (C) with transparency and a 76 (C) without transparency because the Agency issued some documents that positively impacted sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally and other guidance, such as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), that severely harmed SRHR. In the Family Planning domain, USAID’s grade decreased significantly due to issued documents that did not meaningfully discuss family planning or, in the case of the PLGHA FAQs, negatively impacted USAID’s ability to implement comprehensive family planning and SRHR programs that were evidence-informed, responsive to need, consistent with internationally-recognized human rights principles, and gender transformative. For both Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health, funding allocations that were not responsive to need led to a low score in both domains. In the Maternal and Child Health and HIV and AIDS domains, USAID’s grades decreased due to issued guidance that was not gender transformative or comprehensive. In all three domains, USAID’s funding data received a high transparency score and the issued guidance received a lower transparency score.

B
HIV & AIDS
C-
Maternal and Child Health
D
Family Planning
View USAID Score Card
D

This is an average of the three domain scores.

Department of Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received a 66 (D) with transparency and a 75 (C) without transparency. HHS issued documents that negatively impacted sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally in both Maternal and Child Health and HIV and AIDS domains. The transparency grades were significantly lower across both domains due to the lack of transparency of the distribution of global health funding by HHS in 2018.

D+
HIV & AIDS
D
Maternal and Child Health
NA
Family Planning
View HHS Score Card
C-

This is an average of the three domain scores.

Department of Defense

The Department of Defense (DoD) received a 72 (C-) with transparency and an 81 (B-) without transparency in 2018. The grade was based on the release of one HIV and AIDS-related directive, which indicated progress within this domain. However, the DoD received a low transparency score because budget and programmatic data were largely unavailable beyond this one directive.

C-
HIV & AIDS
NA
Maternal and Child Health
NA
Family Planning
View DoD Score Card

C

Overall SRHR Score

The U.S. Government received a 73 (C) with transparency and a 77 (C+) without transparency for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights overall in 2018, primarily due to the negative impact of the PLGHA FAQ and Six Month Review documents across all domains, the defunding of UNFPA, a lack of gender transformative policies and low transparency of data across actors in some key SRHR domains.