What Are Essential Government Services

Free Beacon reports that while many "non-essential" government services are shut down because of the budget problems, there are some "essential" government services still moving forward -- like family planning -- in Pakistan:

Though the government shutdown has reached its tenth day, the federal government has deemed the collection of grant proposals for the improvement of reproductive health of women in Pakistan “essential.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) created a grant on Thursday seeking applicants to administer “family planning” in the south Asian country through its Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program.

“The MCH Program’s overall goal is to dramatically and sustainably improve health outcomes of women and children in target areas, and the MCH Program comprises five components: 1) Family Planning/Reproductive Health; 2) Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; 3) Health Communication; 4) Health Commodities; and 5) Health Systems Strengthening,” the grant said.

The funding will provide “health communication” targeted at married women of reproductive age. The USAID is accepting applications through November and the project will ultimately cost $24.5 million.

 The grant itself can be seen here, and it is dated October 10, 2013.  Whatever the merits of such a program (especially if the goal is to discourage production of more little al-Qaeda terrorists), it is hard to see it as essential -- or even as important to Americans as national parks.

Related Posts by Categories