Donald Trump’s 90-day freeze on foreign aid has caused “absolute chaos” on the ground in developing countries, with vital reproductive health services being forced to halt treatment, charities have warned.
Immediately after his inauguration in January, US President Donald Trump announced an immediate 90-day freeze on all USAID including family planning, which, amounts annually to over $600 million, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a leading reproductive health policy organisation.
That will mean an estimated 11.7 million women and girls losing access to contraception, resulting in 4.2 million unintended pregnancies and, 8,340 maternal deaths, as well as a surge in unsafe abortions, according to Marie Stopes International, a non-governmental organisation providing contraception and safe abortion services in 37 countries around the world.
Speaking during a panel event at the London premiere of The A-Word, The Independent’s documentary about reproductive rights in America, Sarah Shaw, MSI associate director of advocacy, said in some developing countries USAID funding accounts for almost 70 per cent of the health budget.
“For us, [the freeze] means losing $14 million in funding… it’s absolute chaos,” Ms Shaw told the audience at the Frontline Club in London, which included NHS doctors, healthcare providers, researchers in reproductive rights, advocates, and journalists.
“The thing about the stop-work order – definitely for our teams in Zimbabwe – is that they literally have to stop. That’s it. We are done. They haven’t even been able to warn the communities that they’re working with that the mobile teams are not going to come out next time,” she said.
“Because no one is providing services now, entire health systems have just ground to a halt.”
Article continues at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/trump-usaid-abortion-contraception-b2706614.html