The UK’s decision to cut 85% of its contribution to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) has aroused a wave of discontent from aid agencies. Until now, the UK has covered 60-70% of the UNFPA’s budget, being the largest donor to the agency leading to the decision being described as “regretful”, “devastating”, “callous” and “shocking” and the UK Government has been accused of “undoing years of progress and investment”.
The UN has announced that although the UK was expected to contribute 154 million GBP (US$211 million) to the agency in 2021, this amount “will now be reduced to around 23 million GBP (US$32 million), a retreat from agreed commitments made to the program in 2020”. Moreover, the UK intends to cut an additional US$ 17 million from UNFPA’s core operating funds, the UN said.
UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem, said the UNFPA “deeply regrets the UK’s decision to step away from its commitments at a time when inequalities are deepening and international solidarity is needed more than ever”.
“These cuts will be devastating for women and girls and their families across the world. With the now-withdrawn £130 million (US$180 million), the UNFPA Supplies Partnership would have helped prevent around 250,000 maternal and child deaths, 14.6 million unintended pregnancies, and 4.3 million unsafe abortions,” she said.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), an international NGO dealing with reproductive health and a partner to UNFPA in delivering reproductive healthcare worldwide, described the decision as “shocking”, assessing that it would bring about US$100 million of cuts, forcing it to close the UK’s flagship WISH (Women’s Integrated Sexual Health) program in four countries.
“Women and girls are already disproportionately affected by the global pandemic. The callous removal of WISH’s life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare services will lead to millions more unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions, forcing many girls out of school before they are even 16 and causing thousands of preventable maternal deaths. It is a betrayal of women and girls everywhere,” said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, IPPF’s Director-General.
Gift Malunga, UNFPA’s Zambia representative, said she was shocked by the announcement.
“It’s really troubling. We’re really concerned that the most vulnerable women and girls will suffer the most. We’re still trying to assess the impact … but what is certain is it will have a negative effect on the quality of life for women and girls,” she told The Guardian.
Zambia is one of the UNFPA’s beneficiaries with the agency supplying 70% of contraceptives in the country.
The cut in aid for UNFPA is part of the UK’s plan to slash its development aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income announced at the end of 2020. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the government would return to the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development aid “when the fiscal situation allows”, without specifying a precise date.
See also: Charities, aid organizations decry UK foreign aid cut
The reduction to the budget for reproductive health comes at the worst possible moment as the COVID-19 outbreak has pushed many women and girls into extreme poverty, depriving them of the resources to gain access to contraception and making them more vulnerable to domestic violence.
