Despite the Canadian government shutting down CIDA, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made clear that he strongly supports Canada focusing on maternal and child health worldwide. The need is clear: more than 7 million children and mothers die every year from largely preventable or treatable causes. But what is needed to make an actual difference to the world’s poorest citizens?

About $1 in every $10 of Canadian aid money was reportedly unspent last fiscal year, hinting at the difficult road ahead for the government to streamline, simplify and speed up operations in the merged Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Preliminary figures recently released by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer show that the former Canadian International Development Agency reportedly spent only $2.76 billion out of the $3.14 billion set aside for grants and contributions for fiscal year 2011-2012.