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Thursday, 29 April 2021_The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched a scathing attack on UK’s decision to cut family planning aid from £154 million to £23m this year, warning that women and girls around the world will suffer as a result.
The aid cut, which indicates a reduction by 85 percent, could have helped prevent “250,000 maternal and child deaths.”
Prior to this decision, Britain was the biggest donor to the initiative, run by the UNFPA.
UNFPA provides contraception and maternal health medicine to millions of women in some of the world's poorest nations, as well as training maternal health staff and promoting efforts to prevent child marriage, unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Natalia Kanem, UNFPA executive director, accused Britain of “stepping away from its commitments at a time when inequalities are deepening and international solidarity is needed more than ever.”
She branded UK government’s decision as “devastating” and said that "with the now-withdrawn £130m, the UNFPA Supplies Partnership would have helped prevent around 250,000 maternal and child deaths, 14.6 million unintended pregnancies and 4.3 million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.”
Kanem said that the UN agency “deeply regrets” UK’s decision, before adding that upon slashing funds, “women and girls suffer, especially the poor, those living in remote, underserved communities and those living through humanitarian crises.”
In response to a UN statement on Thursday, Liz Sugg, a former Foreign Office minister who resigned in protest of the cuts, said that Britain's withdrawal of financial funding for the women's health organization was a "double hit on the world's poorest."
“This is money the UK committed to in the UN chamber, signed an agreement and now we’re walking away from it – it’s pretty unheard of," Sugg told the BBC Radio 4 Today program on Thursday.
The UK declared this year that it would reduce its total foreign aid budget from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent of national income, a £4 billion cut.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he did not recognize the figures, but admitted no area was immune to cuts.
The move has triggered an outcry from charities and aid organizations that argue it will harm poor communities already reeling from COVID-19 and could also hamper efforts to curb climate change.
The UK’s retreatment from its financial commitments come after other world powers’ increase of aid spending to the poorest because their need is increasing given the global health crisis.
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