Bill Gelfeld

In 2013, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched two programs to help monitor progress toward a new global goal to increase modern contraceptive use by 2020: Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) and Track20. This evaluation of both programs is based on interviews with more than 260 stakeholders, statistical analysis of the PMA2020 survey, and analysis of stakeholder ratings of data maturity and sustainability.

Recent high-profile outbreaks such as Ebola and Zika have illustrated the transnational nature of infectious diseases. Countries that are most vulnerable to outbreaks may be higher priorities for technical support. RAND's Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index should help U. S. government and international agencies identify these countries and inform programming to preemptively mitigate the spread and effects of potential transnational outbreaks.

Over the past decade, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has taken steps to strengthen its ability to plan and coordinate the U. S. government s response to disasters, while the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) has worked to improve its support to FEMA. This research reviews and analyzes how DoD and FEMA work together to plan and execute disaster response activities, and recommends areas for improvement."