Population, Health, and Environment (PHE)

USAID has sponsored programs linking population, health and the environment since 1993 and its support of the University of Michigan Population-Environment Fellowship program.  

In 2002 USAID initiated its formal Population-Health-Environment (PHE) Program in response to legislative language originally included in the FY02 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill - and repeated in all subsequent bills - which stated that under the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund, resources be allocated for family planning and reproductive health, "including in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species."  

USAID seeks to advance and support links between population, health, and environment sectors worldwide through:

• Demonstrating global leadership in linking population, health and environment interventions and programs worldwide
• Generating, communicating, and disseminating knowledge to improve understanding of PHE linkages in new and primary audiences
• Providing support to strengthen institutional capacity to implement effective and sustainable PHE programs

USAID supports PHE field programs in numerous countries including the Philippines, Madagascar, Cambodia, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

USAID also supports advocacy and education activities around the importance of linking health, environment and population through cooperating agencies such as:

•  the Woodrow Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Project,
• Population Reference Bureau, and
• MEASURE/Evaluation.