USAID Shortchanged Countries With the Greatest Water, Sanitation, and Health Needs

A 2014 law requires USAID to spend its funds for improving water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH, in aid jargon) on countries with the greatest need.

This month, however, USAID’s Office of Inspector General said the agency interpreted the law in a way that “led to countries with low WASH needs being designated as high priority countries.”

The Inspector General said USAID spent, on average, “much higher” amounts on countries that were not among the 50 countries with the greatest need.

USAID also failed to fully inform Congress about this or document why it did what it did, the report said.

The report said World Health Organization statistics show that nearly a third of the world lacks access to safe drinking water and two-thirds lack access to safe sanitation. Unhygienic conditions such as these kill 13 percent of all children under age 5.

The agency said it has adopted a new methodology and promised to do better.