USAID’s reproductive health funding has saved millions of lives. Now it’s gone.

For decades, USAID’s family planning program was the main source for contraception and HIV treatment in some countries. Experts say without it, women and LGBTQ+ people will die.

Jessica Kutz
February 7, 2025

On Sunday, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, boasted that he was gutting the federal agency tasked with providing foreign aid to its poorest. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk, the tech billionaire head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, posted on his social media platform, X.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was established in 1961 to provide foreign assistance to impoverished countries around the world through food aid and humanitarian and economic development work. It is also one of the world’s largest providers of contraception through its family planning program. According to the Congressional Research Service, the agency’s funding in 2023 was about $40 billion, which represented less than 1 percent of the federal budget.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2025/02/usaid-women-lgbtq-reproductive-health-funding-pause/

Nigeria – We’re losing our daughters – Akwa Ibom communities lament inadequate FP commodities

December 20, 2024
By Lovina Anthony

The shortfall in the availability of Family Planning commodities and consumables across the primary health facilities in Akwa Ibom State, especially those at the rural communities, has heightened the health risks of women and girls at reproductive age.

A visit by our correspondent to some local government areas in the state revealed an increase in maternal mortality rate, teenage unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion with the attendant poverty rate in those communities.

Continued: https://dailypost.ng/2024/12/20/were-losing-our-daughters-akwa-ibom-communities-lament-inadequate-fp-commodities/

Upsurge in family planning use globally amid decline in funding

May 13, 2024
Lungelo Ndhlovu

The population of women of reproductive age has increased by 20 percent globally since 2012 yet donor government funding for family planning programmes is nosediving, a new global report has revealed.

New figures released by FP2030 in its annual measurement report 2023, shows that the number of women using modern contraception has grown by 92 million since 2012 against dwindling resources to meet the growing demand.

Continued: https://www.chronicle.co.zw/upsurge-in-family-planning-use-globally-amid-decline-in-funding/

13.05.2024

Commentary

Dr Samukeliso Dube

family planning programs

Guttmacher Institute

Lungelo Ndhlovu

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia

By DASHA LITVINOVA, Associated Press
October 26, 2023

TALLINN, Estonia -- They were banned under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Now, after less than a century, official attitudes about abortion in Russia are changing once again.

Although abortion is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia's declining population.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/stalin-putin-abortion-complicated-history-russia-104419114

Africa: World Contraception Day 2023 – A Call to Liberate Women’s Bodies through Equitable Health Leadership

Nearly a third of all women in developing countries begin childbearing at age 19 and younger, and nearly half of first births to adolescents are to children, or girls aged 17 and younger, UNFPA research shows.

Mbuto Machili / UNFPA Mozambique
26 SEPTEMBER 2023

Access to birth control, which empowers women with the agency to decide if, when, and how many children to bear, is a fundamental human right.

While increased use of contraception among women in low- and lower-middle-income countries has successfully prevented over 141 million unintended pregnancies, curbed 29 million unsafe abortions, and averted nearly 150,000 maternal deaths, only 1 in 4 women in these developing nations can realize their desired fertility intentions. This means that an unacceptably large number of women are still having more children than they want - with dire consequences.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202309260368.html

26.09.2023

Commentary

family planning programs

maternal deaths

Mbuto Machili

UNFPA

World Contraception Day

Africa

Contraception

Nigeria – Increasing Use Of Family Planning As Strategy To Lower Maternal Mortality

Jun 9, 2023

Increased use of family planning, according to studies, lowers the number of unintended pregnancies and, as a result, lowers the high rates of maternal mortality.

Sadly, many African countries, like Nigeria, still have low use and availability of contraceptives. According to the 2018 Global Family Planning Report, Nigeria had nearly 1.3 million unintended pregnancies in 2018, yet only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women utilised contraception at the same time.

Continued: https://independent.ng/increasing-use-of-family-planning-as-strategy-to-lower-maternal-mortality/

09.06.2023

News

2018 Global Family Planning Report

Dr Alisyn Moran

family planning programs

International Conference on Family Planning

maternal mortality

maternal mortality ratio

Decriminalization of abortion in Benin: a solution to reduce female mortality and morbidity?

Kparon Baaru
March 28, 2023

Unsafe abortions are one of the causes of female mortality and morbidity worldwide. According to the WHO, estimates of the number of abortions in Africa stand at 6 million. Of this figure, only 3% are done in medicalized and safe conditions for women. Among the victims who eventually succumb or suffer over time from serious infections, cancer of the cervix or sterility, there are a large number of adolescent girls and young women. To remedy this, a few rare African countries are taking the resolution to legalize voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion). Among these, is now added Benin. Is the legalization of abortion the solution to reduce clandestine abortions and a step forward in access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in Benin?

The WHO defines abortion as a simple health intervention that can be managed effectively by a wide range of health workers using drugs or by surgery. Abortion is a subject that we avoid talking about especially in the presence of adolescents and young people in Africa. This neglected point in the debates is an integral part of SRHR. Adolescents and young people do not have access to reliable information related to sexuality and reproduction as they should.

Continued: https://www.breakinglatest.news/world/decriminalization-of-abortion-in-benin-a-solution-to-reduce-female-mortality-and-morbidity-kparon-baaru/

141 million unintended pregnancies prevented in 2022 – report

The report said there is a steady rise in contraceptive use among women

by SELINA TEYIE
26 January 2023

In 2022, over 141 million unintended pregnancies were prevented in low and lower-middle-income countries due to the use of contraception.

This is according to an analysis by Family Planning 2030, which released a report on Wednesday looking at their measurement of family planning uptake in 2022.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/realtime/2023-01-26-141-million-unintended-pregnancies-prevented-in-2022-report/

26.01.2023

family planning programs

Ghana – Religious, societal beliefs on contraceptives causing unsafe abortion – NPC

By Richard Kofi Boahen
Nov 8, 2022

Dr. Davis Yeboah Aboagye, the Bono Regional Officer of the National Population Council (NPC) says religious and certain socio-cultural beliefs about the use of contraceptive are contributing to the ever-increasing cases of unsafe abortion in the country.

He has therefore made a passionate appeal to the National Health Insurance Authority to include family planning services on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to motivate and increase the use of contraceptives among married as well as sexually active adults as a way of controlling population growth, spacing of children and reducing unwanted pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1193880/religious-societal-beliefs-on-contraceptives-caus.html

08.11.2022

Featured

News

Dr. Davis Yeboah Aboagye

family planning programs

National Health Insurance Scheme

National Population Council

World Contraception Day

Preventing Needless Deaths Of Nigerian Women During Child Birth

By Chioma Umeha
On Apr 1, 2022

For decades, the question of why so many Nigerian women die during childbirth has remained unanswered. Nigeria has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world, according to available data.

The country’s mortality ratio of 512 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births far surpasses the global average of 254 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

Continued: https://independent.ng/preventing-needless-deaths-of-nigerian-women-during-child-birth/