Cross Cutting Areas

Many USAID programs operate with a multiple-disease focus. By linking traditionally separate areas through a "cross-cutting" approach, the Agency can create programs with lasting and greater impact on the outcomes of several diseases.

• The Global Health Initiative is a combined effort by the U.S. Government to create a unified approach to disease interventions. It represents the way forward for how the United States delivers health care to people who need our help abroad.
• Environmental Health has significant impacts on multiple health interventions, such as poor air quality, often caused by indoor smoke, which contributes to the effects of acute respiratory infections like pneumonia, a leading child killer. Unsafe water and poor hygiene lead to diarrhea, another leading killer of children. A cross cutting approach to environmental health outcomes strengthens our response to these problems.
• Children living outside of a family are more likely to face health difficulties and have a more difficult time getting help. The United States focuses on providing orphans and Highly Vulnerable Children the specialized care that they need to survive and thrive.