Impact of cuts felt most by women

THE UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has faced budget cuts before, but the impact of President Donald Trump's policies has been even more “devastating” for reproductive health worldwide, chief Natalia Kanem said.

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The agency has been targeted by US conservatives since the Kemp-Kasten Amendment's enactment in 1985 by Congress, when the administration of then president Ronald Reagan rallied against China's population policies, accusing Beijing of promoting forced abortions and sterilisations.

All subsequent Republican presidencies have cut US funding to UNFPA, and the second Trump administration is no exception.

“We've had over $330 million worth of projects ended,” virtually overnight, in “some of the hardest hit regions of the world” like Afghanistan, Kanem said in an interview coinciding with the release of the UNFPA's annual report yesterday.

“So yes, we are suffering.”

Kanem pointed to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan as an example, where over the years more than 18 000 pregnancies were delivered by “heroic midwives” who “conducted these over 18 000 deliveries without a single maternal death, which you know, in a crisis situation is extraordinary.”