Family planning, maternal and child health, and nutrition

The activity is designed to assist countries to demonstrate how to establish health delivery systems within seven years. Such projects include, but are not limited to, Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning and Nutrition. The projects are to cover large populations in predominantly rural areas. They are to utilize in-country resources for the service component, although external assistance organized by DEIDS is available for planning, evaluation, training, and limited amounts of essential equipment. It is expected that successful health delivery systems can be subsequently replicated in the country or in the region. These are phases through which DEIDS projects proceed: (a) Phase I -- reconnaissance within a specific country or region, to gather information about disease patterns, health services as currently organized, local resources, cultural aspects, community involvement, the potential for integration of various parts of public health, opportunities for innovation, current and potential staffing, training, supervision, emphasis upon preventive services, outreach, cost, and evaluation. (b) Phase II -- Detailed planning. This phase begins if the survey in Phase I recommends it, and involves experts from the host country as well as experts assigned by DEIDS. (c) Phase III -- Pilot Project Operations, which continue for as long as eight years.