Contraceptives for sub-Saharan Africa stuck in warehouses after US aid cuts
Contraceptives that could help prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies in some of the world's poorest countries are stuck in warehouses because of US aid cuts and could be destroyed, two aid industry sources and one former government official said.
The stock, held in Belgium and Dubai, includes condoms, contraceptive implants, pills and intrauterine devices, together worth about $11m (R195.5m), the sources told Reuters.
It has been stalled since the Trump administration started cutting foreign aid as part of its 'America First' policy in February, as the US government no longer wants to donate the contraceptives or pay the costs for delivery, they said.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has instead asked the contractor managing its health supply chain, Chemonics, to try to sell it, two of the sources said.
An internal USAID memo, sent in April, said a quantity of contraceptives was being kept in warehouses and they should be 'immediately transferred to another entity to prevent waste or additional costs'.
A senior US state department official told Reuters no decision had been made about the future of the contraceptives. They did not respond to questions about the reasons why the contraceptives were in storage or the impact of the US aid cuts and delays.
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We subsequently transcribed and translated the recordings of these interviews using AI-based software, including Descript and ChatGPT. Where there was a significant mismatch between the interpretations of the translator and the software, we contacted the interviewee or got third parties to help translate the recordings. All parents and guardians gave permission to use the photos of children in this article. All people photographed understood their photos would be published in the news media. The cost of travel, accommodation and the journalist's remuneration was shared between Spotlight and GroundUp. Published by Spotlight and GroundUp. Sign up to the Spotlight newsletter.
