Dr Alvaro Bermejo, director general of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has accused the government of “abandoning” women and girls it promised to help, and that the UK foreign aid cuts will derail the programme to reduce maternal deaths and prevent unsafe abortions in poor countries.
“What is unbelievable is a flagship programme designed by a Conservative government for sexual and reproductive health is going to be destroyed,” said Bermejo.
The threat will be to the women’s integrated sexual health (Wish) programme and could mean 7.5m additional unintended pregnancies, 2.7m unsafe abortions and 22,000 maternal deaths over the next year
“The impact will be brutal,” Bermejo said. “We’re already having to close in half the countries where we are operating and keep the remaining ones operating at 30% of what they were. We will have to close our Mozambique project with three months’ notice and our Zambia project. We’re losing staff now.”
IPPF’s Mozambique Wish programme reached half a million women in the last three months, a quarter of them under 25, and increased the take-up of long-term contraceptives, as well as ensuring rural health facilities were stocked with drugs.
Bermejo and Simon Cooke, chief executive officer of MSI Reproductive Choices, who implement the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) reproductive health programme, said they had been told by government officials to “stretch” existing funding beyond June 2021, which meant closing programmes now.
Cooke said: “The reality is a lot of what we are doing has to be shut down,” he said. “In some cases, we will have to stop immediately. In many cases, there are no alternatives, nowhere else for women to go.”
Worst affected would be African countries in the Sahel, he said, with adolescent girls affected most. He described the drop in aid as “an act of self-harm”.
“Women going to get their IUD [intrauterine contraceptive device] or implant inserted will find the clinic is not there,” said Bermejo. “You don’t rebuild that trust, ever.” He added, “The expected cuts could be the same order of magnitude as when President Trump introduced the ‘global gag rule’,” he said. “We lost $100m. This time we stand to lose £72m.”
Arune Estavela, the Mozambique's project’s director, said the Wish programme’s closure will mean the quality of the service is reduced. Estavela said women will die as a result.
“We will have more HIV, sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies,” said Estavela. “Many teenagers will seek unsafe abortions, and we can expect more complications and maternal deaths. The health facilities are a focal point for cases of gender-based violence, with HIV and pregnancy prophylaxis and that will no longer happen.”
Bermejo said, he will have to close Wish projects in eight countries, including Afghanistan and Bangladesh. IPPF is trying to keep projects open in Ethiopia and Pakistan, while the remaining programmes in six countries, will operate at 30% of the previous capacity.
Elsewhere, in Lebanon, the cuts will lead to the closure of two centres which offer specialised services for disabled Syrian refugees. Humanity and Inclusion (HI) is a charity that provides support to disabled people and their families in Lebanon, in a project primarily funded by UK aid. FCDO will no longer continue its funding.
“There are a lot of refugees with disabilities – and there are now no services available for them.”
“This is about the loss of an entire support structure built over years of engagement, which has offered disabled people services that didn’t previously exist in Lebanon. There was no plan around stopping this funding. It will take years to rebuild what is being lost."
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